Fix You
by Whatsername Lambert
Summary: In a seemingly perfect world, all human beings are blind from birth. Each individual can only receive sight from his or her true love. Narrow-minded Blaine Anderson is stuck in a rut with no way out, and Kurt Hummel has learned the hard way that hatred still exists even in this 'utopia.' Both think they will never find their soul mate. Fantasy AU, Klaine. Cover art by treinjessica.
1. Chapter 1

**I originally started this a few months ago, got stuck, and set it aside temporarily with the intent of picking it back up later. It started off as a oneshot before I realized there was no way I could make that work, so when I came back to it a few weeks ago and began revising it, I decided to make it a multichapter. It's based on an amazing fanart by leeminkyo on Tumblr and the accompanying quote. If you want to see it, check it out here: http:/ bit .ly /wK1FaR (delete the spaces in the link).**

**This went through about five working titles while I was in the process of writing it. I finally decided on "Fix You" when the amazing Coldplay song of the same name started playing on shuffle yesterday. I already had most of this written at that point, but I couldn't help thinking that it would make a perfect title. I think in many ways, the lyrics apply to what's going to happen here.**

**A better summary: This story takes place in a seemingly utopian world not unlike our own, except for the fact that every human being is blinded at birth. Whenever a new baby is born, he or she has a red silk blindfold tied over her eyes. This blindfold is magical due to the fact that only one person can untie someone else's blindfold – that person's soul mate.**

**Blaine is stuck in a rut, but too stubborn to find a way out. He is homeschooled (blind students either have the option of being homeschooled or attending public school) and sings in an a capella group with his friends, called the Warblers. Kurt has learned the hard way that the blindfolds do not blind everyone from hatred. He attends public school and is constantly harassed for the way he sounds. Singing in glee club helps him feel better most of the time, but on days when the club doesn't rehearse, Kurt resorts to cutting as a way to let go of the pain pent up inside him.**

**I think that's about all you need to know. :D Also, this is my first attempt at writing fantasy, so please bear with me.**

FIX YOU

Chapter 1

Blaine Anderson had never seen sunlight. He'd never looked into another person's eyes or seen someone smile. He had no idea what colors looked like. He had never even seen his own reflection in a mirror.

Blaine had been blind from birth, but that was all too common in this society. Whenever a child was born, a red blindfold was tied over his or her eyes. It could not be removed. A person could only untie another person's blindfold - and in doing so, give him or her sight - if the two were each other's true loves, destined to be together.

By the time Blaine was eighteen, his blindfold still had yet to be untied. He tried not to let it bother him, but he knew there were others his age that already had sight. He couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with him. There _had _to be someone out there for everyone, after all. Everyone received their sight eventually. But maybe not for him. Maybe he was the odd one out. Extra. Left over. Unwanted.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Blaine tried to focus most of his attention on his music. A few years ago, he'd formed an a capella group called the Warblers with several of his friends. Blaine usually sang lead, and although he would never admit it to the rest of the group, he preferred it that way. Actually _singing _was a much better outlet for his emotions than laying down random a capella harmonies in the background. And when he was singing, it didn't matter that he still had yet to receive his sight. Just the _feeling _of the music was enough.

But sometimes even music frustrated him, as was evidenced one fall afternoon at rehearsal. Sebastian had signed them all up to compete in some stupid talent show that was sponsored by the local blind community center, which aided those who had not yet received their sight and tried to make them feel like they were normal by hosting activities such as this – at least that's how Blaine saw it. He had to sing some dumb song about skin tight jeans and teenage dreams, which he was not looking forward to in the slightest.

"I don't understand," he sighed after they'd run through the number once, running one hand through his curly hair. His fingers brushed against the knot of the blindfold at the back of his head. "We're pretty much singing a song about being sexy, when the fact is we're all still blind and we have no clue what the hell 'sexy' even looks like. Not to mention, the people in the audience at this show are also going to be blind like us. So they won't know if we're sexy, either. It makes no sense."

"He has a point." Blaine heard Wes crack open a can of some calorie-laden energy drink as he spoke. "Besides, the lyrics are dumb."

Sebastian spoke up defensively, ignoring Wes's last comment. "You guys don't get it. It's not about what we _look _like, it's about our _music_. And yeah, most of these people who come to the show are going to be blind, but that just means we have to use our vocal talents to the best of our advantage. There's nothing that says we can't _sound _sexy."

Blaine flinched when he felt Sebastian suddenly throwing an arm over his shoulder as he continued. "Besides, I think Blaine can definitely pull this sexy thing off, don't you?"

"I guess so." When David spoke up, it sounded like his mouth was full. Blaine presumed he was eating; he always brought food to rehearsal. "But I agree with Wes. It's a pretty stupid song."

"Look, Sebastian, Blaine is our lead singer. If he doesn't want to sing this, we should at least let him pick another song," Nick suggested.

"Guys!" Blaine had to practically shout. "I don't want any more drama." There was a mumble of agreement. "I'll sing the song. I actually really like the harmonies, and you guys sound great on them. We might as well stick with it. Besides, I don't think we have time to pick another song and get it perfect by the time we perform next week."

The rest of them seemed to agree, so they stuck with it. After running through the song one more time, they decided to call it quits for the day.

"Same time tomorrow?" Jeff asked Blaine when they were all done.

"Same time tomorrow," Blaine repeated in response, making sure his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

He was gathering up his things, about to head out and catch the bus when suddenly someone spoke to him.

"Blaine. You got a minute?"

Blaine inhaled sharply and turned towards the sound of the voice. "God, Sebastian, stop scaring me like that. What do you need?"

"I wanted to talk to you about that whole 'sexiness' thing," Sebastian said. For whatever reason, Blaine felt his stomach sink. "To be honest, you're doing a great job, but I think you could sound even sexier."

Blaine bit his lip. He didn't like where this was going. "I'm sorry?"

"Have you ever had any kind of sexual experience with anyone?" Sebastian asked in response.

He shook his head, even though he knew the other boy couldn't see. "I'm still blind, Sebastian. The person who I want to share everything with…I haven't met them yet. So to answer your question, no."

The little voice in the back of Blaine's head was telling him to get out of there _fast_. Sebastian had been coming onto him like this more and more lately and Blaine didn't like it one bit. He backed away as he spoke.

"Y'know, if you want…," Sebastian's voice was low and made Blaine's heart start racing – and not in the good way. "I could help you out with that. We could—"

"_No_, Sebastian," Blaine said forcefully. "I'm not going to just throw myself away like that. I know what you're trying to do, and I don't like it. I don't like _you_. Not in _that _way, at least."

"How do you know you don't like me in _that _way when we've never even seen each other?" Sebastian countered.

Blaine sighed in defeat and hitched his bag over his shoulder.

"I just know you're not the one," he said quietly. "I have to go."

Without saying another word, he turned and walked out the door. The bus that was mostly utilized by those who were still blind and couldn't drive yet usually ran by right at the end of their rehearsal, so Blaine could catch it home. Today, though, he figured he'd probably missed it. Damn Sebastian and his inability to take a hint.

He walked down to the bench at the corner to wait for the next bus. The sound of traffic whizzed by around him; the faint hint of exhaust from the vehicles filled his nose. Being without sight had left Blaine especially keen to the rest of his senses. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but hardly a day went by when he wished he could just _see _things for once.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, curling himself into a little ball on the bench. Only one person in the world had the magic necessary to untie his blindfold and give him sight. Blaine wondered, as he often did, who that person was and what they were doing right now.

xxx

Kurt Hummel drew in a ragged breath as he picked the razor up with shaky fingers.

He tried not to think about what he was doing, even as he traced the tips of his fingers over the raised scars that criss-crossed the insides of his forearms between his elbow and wrist. He'd been doing this regularly for about two months now, ever since he'd decided to switch from being homeschooled – as many young people who were still blind were educated – to mainstreaming himself into real school. Some students who went to the local public school had already received their sight; others had not. The school had made special accommodations for those students like Kurt, who fit into the latter group. School itself wasn't so difficult. The people who went there were.

The insults came every single day, from blind and unblind alike.

_You sound like such a fucking girl._

_Nobody will ever unblind you. Nobody will ever love you._

_The only way anyone can tell you're a boy is because of your name. That's it._

_Why don't you do us all a favor and shut the fuck up?_

Kurt, never one to want to intentionally offend anyone, had taken to never speaking unless he was spoken to. Teachers still called on him in class from time to time, and whenever he spoke up with an answer he could hear the snickers of several other students as he talked.

The only place he felt safe was in glee club. Three times a week, the group met after school to sing and share their mutual love for music. Sometimes Kurt would even get up and sing a solo, much to the delight of the other members. They all loved his voice and were unshy about telling him how beautiful it was. Kurt would graciously thank them as he felt his face grow warm with a blush, but he couldn't help wondering why none of them ever stood up for him outside of the choir room.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when glee club didn't rehearse, Kurt took the bus straight home after school. He would go up to his room and take out the razor he had hidden under his pillow. Then he would cut – one mark for each insult that had been hurled his way that afternoon. It was the only way he knew to release his inner pain when he couldn't sing.

He squeezed his eyes shut behind the blindfold, even though it made no difference, and touched the razor to the inside of his arm, feeling the cool press of the blade against his skin. Trying his best to clear his thoughts, he sliced three marks, one after another, below the crease of his elbow.

As the blood ran down his arms, Kurt reached up to his face with one trembling hand. He ran his fingers lightly over the smooth silk of his blindfold, towards the knot at the back of his head. Without even thinking about it, he gave it a light tug. The fabric didn't even budge.

He felt tears leaking out of his eyes, staining the fabric of the blindfold. Supposedly there was someone out there for everyone. Each and every human being would receive sight at some point in their existence. But it seemed impossible for Kurt to believe that when he was taunted and picked on every single day. Maybe whatever higher being that was responsible for his existence had forgotten to create someone special for him, too.

Did he really live in a perfect world, if people still couldn't respect him without being able to see him? Most of the time, his life was a living hell. Only when he sang did he feel that it was worth it to be alive at all.

Well, Kurt thought as he curled himself into a ball on his bed, perfection certainly seemed ugly.

xxx

"Blaine! Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

His mother's sharp voice snapped Blaine out of the reverie he'd floated into. He immediately turned his head towards the sound of her voice. "Yeah – um, sorry. Just daydreaming."

"You'll never get anywhere if you don't pay attention to what I'm trying to teach you," his mother responded exasperatedly. Blaine had always hated being homeschooled – now that it was becoming more and more common for blind students to attend public school, he really didn't see a point to it anymore, but he couldn't bring himself to ask his parents to let him make the transition.

"How old were you and Dad when you unblinded each other?" he asked out of the blue.

His mother seemed taken aback as she responded, but she answered him all the same. "He and I were sixteen. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno." Blaine shrugged as he ran his fingers absentmindedly over the raised dots on the page he was supposed to be reading, not really paying attention to what the words actually said. "I just feel like it's never gonna happen. So many kids have already met that person, y'know?"

"Your friends in that music group haven't been unblinded yet," his mother pointed out. As Blaine mentally ran through the list of his fellow Warblers, he realized she was right. "They're all your age, right?"

He sighed. "Yeah, but Jeff met this girl and he thinks she might be the one...same with David…but neither of them have made the move to unblind their partner yet. They're waiting for the right moment."

"As they should," his mother agreed. "There's no specific time limit on when you _have _to unblind each other, but it does make it more special to wait and get to really know each other before you take that step. That way, all that's left to know about them is what they look like."

Blaine considered this for a second. She made a very good point, but at the same time he couldn't help feeling anxious for when he would meet that person.

"I guess I just want to know who it is," he admitted. "I don't want to wait anymore."

His mother gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't stress yourself out about it," she told him. "When you meet that person, you'll just know. That's the best way I can explain it. You'll know."

xxx

Fortunately for Kurt, there was glee club rehearsal the next day. Unfortunately for Kurt, they didn't sing. Instead, Mr. Will Schuester, the teacher in charge of the club, began their rehearsal with an announcement.

"Guys, I have great news." His voice was teeming with excitement; Kurt took a moment to wonder if Mr. Schuester's idea of "great news" was at all similar to his own. "The blind community center is hosting a talent show next weekend. Since the majority of our club is blind, we're eligible to participate. I'd like us all to perform."

There was an excited murmur of contentment throughout the members of the club. Kurt stayed silent. He really had no reason to be excited about something like this. Mr. Schue would most likely have him sing backup vocals while Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson – who, after unblinding each other earlier this year, were the only members of the club to have received their sight – sang some sappy love duet. The only difference was that this time, they would be in front of an audience that Kurt wouldn't be able to see.

He heard Rachel's voice. _Speak of the devil_… "Mr. Schuester, I would like to make a suggestion. Seeing as how Finn and I are the only unblind members of the group, I think we should sing lead. It would create a much better visual dynamic for those few members of the audience who _can _see."

"Called it," Kurt mumbled under his breath. Nobody heard him.

"Actually, Rachel, I wasn't planning on having a duet," Mr. Schue explained. Kurt bit back a smile, even though he knew Rachel, Finn and Mr. Schue would be the only people in the room able to see it.

"Oh! That's perfectly all right, I had a great song in mind for my solo—"

"Rachel." Mr. Schue's voice was stern. "You're not singing lead."

"But-," she protested.

There was a smile in the teacher's voice as he continued. "I was thinking about having Kurt sing the lead for this, actually."

A near-collective gasp went up around the room. To Kurt's delight, it sounded more like an oh-my-goodness-what-a-great-idea gasp than a what-the-hell-are-you-thinking-Schuester gasp.

"Kurt?" Mr. Schue asked gently. "Would you like to do that?"

He opened his mouth but didn't respond. Every single day of his life, he was taunted for the way he sounded, and Schuester wanted him to get up onstage in front of God only knows how many people, to _sing_? Granted, most of the bullies at school usually made fun of his normal speaking voice, since they'd never heard him sing, so there was a difference there. _Still_.

But for whatever reason, he heard himself saying, "I would love to."

"Great." Schuester sounded sufficiently pleased. "It's settled. Kurt, congratulations on your first solo."

xxx

After finishing his lesson for the day, Blaine went to meet up with the rest of the guys for rehearsal – just like he did every single other day. As he rode the bus to Jeff's, where they'd been holding practice lately, he leaned his head against the cool glass of the window he couldn't see out of – why did they even put windows on a bus used mostly by blind people, anyway? – and thought deeply.

He was stuck in a rut. There was no denying that. Every day was the same: home school lessons with his mother, then Warblers practice with the guys, then sometimes he would stop and get a coffee on his way home, but he always ended up back at his house. As he felt the smooth motion of the bus as it rolled along, he couldn't help wondering if this was how it would always be. If he'd just be stuck in this repetition until his supposed soul mate came along some random day. He didn't see how it could be possible to meet the love of his life when said life was so redundant.

At rehearsal, he found himself going through the motions of yet another routine in his monotonous life. Granted, they had that talent show coming up, but that was about it. Other than that, Blaine really had nothing to look forward to.

For whatever reason, he found himself at the coffee shop after rehearsal, but he wasn't alone this time. Sebastian had asked him to go get coffee, and Blaine had agreed without really thinking. Part of him thought that having someone else accompany him might bring about some kind of change in this monotonous routine he cycled through day after day.

But the second they were seated with their coffee and Sebastian began to talk, Blaine wished he would have just taken the bus home instead.

"So can you tell me something?" Sebastian asked, then continued without waiting for Blaine to respond. "Why do you always try to avoid me?"

Blaine took a sip of his medium drip. "I'm here with you now, aren't I?" he acknowledged.

"You know what the hell I mean, Blaine," Sebastian shot back. His voice was borderline rude. "You seem so turned off by me. You won't even let yourself go and experiment a little bit; you won't even open your mind. Why is that?"

"Because first of all, I know exactly who you want me to 'experiment' with, and that's not happening," Blaine told him flatly. "Second, what makes you think I'm so attractive, anyway? You said it yourself just the other day – we've never even _seen _each other."

He heard Sebastian scooting his chair closer to Blaine's own. His fingers clenched nervously around his paper coffee cup.

"I've told you a million times. You're _so _sexy." Sebastian's voice was low. "Especially on Teenage Dream. It…it _does _things to me, Blaine. I've never been so turned on just by the sound of someone's _voice _before."

"Okay, first of all, all I get from that is that you're attracted to my _voice_. Not to _me_," Blaine pointed out. "Second, the feeling isn't mutual. Sebastian…you're a really cool guy, and an awesome friend, but I just don't feel that way about you." He shook his head, knowing full well that the other boy couldn't see. "Sorry."

"But it's not just your voice," Sebastian protested. "It's _you_. Everything about you. I can't explain it. This has to be how people feel when they've met _the one_, right?"

"It's not," Blaine explained. "It's just infatuation, trust me. I've felt it before." He let his mind wander back in time to Jeremiah, who he'd met the previous year and who had not reciprocated Blaine's feelings at all. "You can _feel _these things for me, but because I don't return your feelings, it's not meant to be. Besides, I've never heard of two men actually unblinding each other…or two women, for that matter." He took a sip of his coffee.

"I have," Sebastian insisted. "If it's possible to feel these things about someone of the same gender, even if it's unrequited, then it's possible for two men or two women to give each other sight. It only makes sense."

Blaine shook his head again. "No," he said. "It doesn't. Not to me, anyway. We're all just confused teenagers. We can't see the world around us. The only things we have to rely on are the rest of our senses. We can become intrigued by the way certain people talk or behave or even smell, but that doesn't mean we're destined to be with them. We're just simply trying to figure out what kinds of things we like. At the end of the day, men and women unblind each other. That's it. That's the only way I've ever heard of it happening."

He heard Sebastian scoot his chair back from the table. "All right, you've sufficiently pissed me off."

Blaine immediately stood up and started after him, trying to figure out from the sound of his voice where Sebastian was headed. "This isn't because I don't return your feelings, is it? Because that's a really stupid reason to get mad at me. This may not be what you want to hear, Sebastian, but I don't feel that way about you. I can't help it."

Sebastian scoffed. "No, it's not because of that. It's because you won't even open your mind to the possibility of something different happening." Blaine heard him begin to walk away, then there was a pause and the sound of his footsteps grew closer again. "Let me tell you something, Blaine Anderson. If you want to just sit around and expect some _girl _to come along and unblind you – because you can't bear the thought that it just _might _be a boy – then you're never going to see the light of day."

He heard Sebastian's footsteps start to retreat again, storming angrily off into the distance. This time, they didn't come back.

Blaine stood there alone for a long time. He couldn't help wondering, in the depths of the back of his mind, if by some chance Sebastian might be right.

xxx

Kurt rode home with Finn after glee club rehearsal that day. They lived together now – Kurt's father and Finn's mother had both lost their spouses many years ago and had recently found solace in each other. Kurt knew it wasn't the same for either of them – they had both been unblinded by their soul mates, and now that said soul mates were gone, nothing would ever compare. But Carole Hudson and Burt Hummel enjoyed each other's company, and besides, Kurt thought it was nice to have some type of motherly figure in his life.

But having Finn and Carole living with them now also meant that Kurt was the only member of their unconventional family who had yet to be unblinded. It wasn't so bad when it was just him and his dad, but now that there were two additional people living with them, he couldn't help feeling self-conscious about it most of the time.

At least Finn could drive him back to their house now, so Kurt didn't have to take the bus with the rest of the blind people anymore. For the entire duration of the ride, Finn chattered excitedly about the talent show and expressed his genuine happiness that Kurt had gotten the lead solo. Kurt mostly responded with one word answers and _mm-hmm_s of agreement. He had gotten so used to not talking outside of glee club that sometimes it was hard to hold a simple conversation with the kid who had practically become his brother.

He had no way of knowing just how much talking he'd have to do when they got home.

The second he and Finn stepped into the house, Kurt heard his father's voice from somewhere not far away. He must have been waiting for them right in the front hallway. "Kurt. We need to talk."

Finn must have been trying to walk away, because his father's voice spoke up again. "Oh, no, don't you go anywhere. This has to do with you, too."

Kurt felt a hand wrap around his upper arm and tried to relax as Finn led him over to the couch. His knees were shaking as he sat down.

"What's wrong?" he asked warily. One of the things he hated about situations like this was the fact that he could never tell where everyone else in the room was sitting. Were they all relatively close, or did they have him sitting on the couch by himself while they all stared at him judgmentally from across the room?

Carole began. Her voice sounded gentle. "Kurt, honey, your dad and I were worried…"

She trailed off, apparently waiting for Burt to pick up, which he did. "Why the hell was there blood on your sheets when I went upstairs this morning?"

Kurt practically felt his heart stop. He was usually so good about grabbing tissues to hold to his arms right away while he was bleeding, but yesterday he must have accidentally gotten blood on the sheets somehow. He scrambled for an explanation.

"I…uh, I stubbed my toe yesterday," he lied. "Just banged it on the edge of the wall, right in my room." It wasn't a total lie. Running into things when nobody was around to help guide him was not uncommon. "And I went to sit on my bed; I guess I didn't realize it was bleeding." He hesitated for a moment as he realized that he didn't know just how much blood could be seen on the sheets. "Why? Is there a lot?"

"Not a _lot_, but enough for me to be able to tell that you were bleeding," his father explained. "I was really worried, kid."

Finn spoke up all of a sudden. "Wait, so why am I here?"

"We just wanted to make sure nothing was going on with Kurt that you weren't telling us about," Carole explained gently. "You know Burt and I both trust you very much to help him out, we wanted to be sure you knew everything was okay."

"I'm fine," Kurt insisted, but all he could hear in his head was Dave Karofsky's sneering whisper from earlier that day: _You think anyone's gonna unblind you, Hummel? Nobody will know what to do with you because you sound like such a chick._

His father was silent for a moment. "Okay," he said finally. "But if anything happens to you, Kurt, I want you to come tell me right away. I remember being blind…running into stuff all the time…it's dangerous. I don't want you hurting yourself."

For some reason, Kurt couldn't help but get the feeling that there was something else implied - something his father wasn't telling him. But he didn't acknowledge this; instead, he tried his best to smile and said, "Okay."

xxx

When Kurt went up to his room, Burt kept Carole and Finn down in the living room to continue their conversation.

"I don't know why the hell he expects us to believe that, but let me tell you something. Kurt didn't 'stub his toe,'" Burt told them. "I found a razor under his pillow."

Carole gasped and clamped one hand over her mouth. Finn flinched and stared ahead in disbelief.

"I didn't bring it up to him just now in front of you two because I think this should be a private discussion between him and I. The only reason I had him sit down with us just now was because I wanted to see what he would say," Burt explained. "I took the razor. I just hope to God he doesn't have any more hidden up there. I was so shocked from finding the first one that it didn't really enter my mind to check for more."

Carole turned to her son. "Do you have any idea why he might be doing this?"

Finn looked at the ground.

"Do you?" Burt prodded.

"Maybe," Finn said to the floor.

"Finn, what's going on?" Burt demanded.

There was nothing left to do but spill all the details of the torture Kurt endured every day at school, so that's exactly what Finn did. He couldn't bear to look at either his mother or Burt, so he kept his eyes down the whole time. When he was done, a heavy silence hung in the air before Carole spoke.

"Haven't you done anything to help him?" she scolded gently. "Kurt's so much more vulnerable than you are because he's still blind. He doesn't need to be ignored by people who care about him in a situation like this."

Burt, on the other hand, was red in the face and seething with rage. To Finn's relief, Kurt's father didn't acknowledge the same thing as Carole.

"I'm calling the school," he spat. "I want those assholes away from my son. I don't want them _near _him. And I want—"

"Burt," Carole cut him off softly. "I don't think that's a good idea. If you try to keep them away, they'll only go out of their way to find Kurt and make his life even more miserable. I think you need to have a talk with him about the razor you found, but don't try to interfere with anything going on at school. Like I said, that will only make it worse."

Burt let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "So much for a perfect world," he muttered dejectedly.

Finn bit his lip and wished the floor could open up and swallow him. His mother was right – he should have stood up for Kurt. So many times, he saw his friend getting pounded with insults and he never did anything about it. He never forgot the pain that hung over Kurt's expression every time. It was times like that when Finn was glad Kurt was still blind – the red cloth over his eyes hid most of the pain. For whatever reason, Kurt seemed like the type that would have every single emotion reflected in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said after a long time. "Next time I see it happening, I'll stop it. I swear."

Burt, too shaken to be upset about the fact that Finn had neglected the problem thus far, bowed his head humbly. "Thank you."

Finn nodded and tried not to let his remorse show on his face for not having done something sooner.

xxx

When Blaine arrived at Jeff's house for Warblers rehearsal later that afternoon, a voice spoke up before he could even announce his presence.

"Blaine?" It was David. Blaine wondered how he'd been able to tell who it was. Whenever one of them arrived, they usually called out and said _I'm here _just so everyone would know, because obviously none of them would be able to tell who had just walked in the door.

"Yeah," Blaine responded. "It's me, what's up?"

He heard footsteps; David must have been walking closer.

"Blaine," his friend said again, an unmistakable smile in his voice. "I can _see_."

Blaine's jaw dropped, but he couldn't help letting a huge smile take over his face. David was the first of the Warblers to have gained his sight, and Blaine was genuinely happy for him – not just because of that, but because he'd known David since the two of them were five and now considered him to be the brother he'd never had.

"Are you serious?" he asked incredulously. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah, Adrienne and I unblinded each other last night," David said, an even bigger smile evident in his voice when he referred to the girl he'd been dating for quite some time. "I…I don't even know how to describe it, Blaine. _Incredible _is such an understatement. I feel like I'm finally _living_, y'know?"

"I'm so happy for you," Blaine told him sincerely, then opened his arms. "C'mere, I need a hug."

It wasn't long before he felt himself being squeezed into a hug. The tension between himself and Sebastian yesterday at the coffee shop was completely gone from his mind. Right now, all Blaine could focus on was how _happy _he was for David. Knowing that one of his close friends had their sight now gave him a renewed sense of hope that maybe there was someone out there for him after all.

"At least now _one _of us can see how sexy we actually are," Blaine cracked when they broke away.

"Oh, please, Sebastian doesn't know what he's talking about half the time," David responded flatly. His tone suddenly changed as he continued and Blaine felt his heart stop at his friend's next words.

"Besides, you might be closer to finding your soul mate than you think."

**Chapter 2 coming soon! :)**

**Like I said at the beginning…first time writing fantasy, so please review! I'm always open for comments and suggestions!**


	2. Chapter 2

**All this news about Matt Bomer coming to Glee to guest star as Blaine's brother is making me so excited, so Cooper Anderson is in this one :) (I kid you not, People Who Didn't Know About This. That is his name. Cooper Anderson.) I had so much fun writing about them as brothers. Also, some Hummelberry friendship which was also a lot of fun to write.**

**Also, I know that Emma Pillsbury on the actual show is just a guidance counselor, but I'm kind of expanding her role here and making her more of a psychologist. You'll see why.**

**I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this so far, happy reading. :D**

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Kurt was alone in his room, running his fingers over the raised dots on the sheet music for the song he was supposed to sing for the talent show. It was something about a blackbird flying with broken wings, which seemed simple enough, but he was having a difficult time trying to commit it to memory. He knew it was natural to be nervous about having his first solo in front of such a large audience, but there was so much more to it than that. Singing in front of so many people meant that all those people were going to hear his _voice_. Kurt knew he had a very distinctive sound, but sometimes he couldn't quite tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Suddenly there was a knock on his bedroom door, then his father's voice. "Kurt? Can I come in?"

Before Kurt could even respond, he heard the soft noise of the door being pulled open. Being without sight meant that he'd learned to use the rest of his senses especially well, and he could hear even the quietest noises. There were footsteps on the carpeting, then he felt the weight of his bed shifting as his father sat on the edge of the mattress.

"Can I talk to you?" his father's voice asked gently.

Kurt immediately tensed up . For whatever reason, he knew there was no possible way for this conversation to lead in a positive direction. But before he could dwell on this for too long, he heard himself saying, "Sure."

"Hold out your hand," his father said, and Kurt did so. A few seconds later, his father spoke again. "Could you tell me what this is?"

The object Kurt felt being placed into his hand froze him completely into place – he wasn't sure he could have moved even if he'd wanted to. He clutched the thin, familiar handle of his razor in a fist and bit his lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood. _How would his father have found this_?

"It's a razor," he finally managed to say after a few seconds of shaky silence.

"I know that," his father said. "Where did you get it?"

"I s-stole it from Finn's bathroom a few months ago," Kurt admitted.

"And why did you do that?"

Kurt knew his dad was a smart man. There was no turning back now; he had to tell the truth. He could feel hot tears welling up in his eyes behind his blindfold as he made to push up his long sleeves.

Suddenly he felt another hand being placed over his own to stop him. "Kurt, you don't have to show me," his father said.

He breathed an audible sigh of relief and tugged his sleeves back down. "Oh, thank you."

Even though he couldn't see, Kurt could feel his father looking fixedly at him. It was another thing he'd learned to acquire through years of blindness – the innate ability to sense when someone was staring at him. It always scared him a little bit. Being one on one with someone who could see never ceased to make him feel completely vulnerable, even if it was just his own father. He knew that the other person could see all his emotion and fear, and Kurt himself was left to speculate and feel.

"But can you tell me why you did it?" His father's voice was gentle, as if he were trying to understand. But Kurt knew that his father would never understand what he was going through. Nobody would.

At the same time, though, he figured there was nothing left to do but be completely honest. His father had already figured everything else out; there was no point in lying about how his scars had gotten there.

"The other kids at school make fun of me because I'm different," he said reluctantly, softly. "Even though a lot of them can't see me…they can still hear. My voice isn't like all the other guys'. I sound like a girl, or at least that's what they tell me at school."

His father was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was just as gentle as it had been before.

"Kurt, you can't let those narrow-minded assholes get to you. Remember what I always say? Nobody—''

"Nobody pushes the Hummels around," Kurt quoted monotonously, cutting his father off. "I know, but it's hard to remember that when all you hear every single day is that you sound like a girl and nobody would be able to tell the difference."

"If they can't tell the difference, they're obviously idiots. Yeah, you've got a higher pitched voice, but so what? I think you sound like a guy."

Kurt knew his dad was trying to be reassuring, but unfortunately his attempts fell somewhat short.

"Yeah, but you can _see _that I'm a guy," he pointed out. "A lot of those kids can't. It's hard for them to tell the difference. And when I meet my soul mate eventually…maybe it'll be hard for that person to tell the difference, too. Maybe we'll unblind each other and they'll be disappointed when they see me."

He paused for a second and shook his head. "But who am I kidding, that will never happen anyway. I'll be blind forever."

His father sounded genuinely confused. "What are you talking about? Everyone gets unblinded eventually, kid. There's someone out there for everyone."

"Not for me." Kurt's voice was thick with the tears he was still trying to hold back. "I know there's not. They tell me _that _at school, too. They've told me so many times that I'll never be unblinded that I've started to believe it."

By this point, he'd completely given up and broken down into sobs. Kurt pulled his knees up to his chest and curled himself into a trembling little ball as his tears slipped out from under his blindfold and rolled down his face. His dad placed a reassuring hand on his back, but Kurt barely noticed until he spoke.

"Listen to me, Kurt Hummel." His father's voice was gentle but firm. "You can't listen to a _word _those people say. Y'know, if they're stupid enough to believe that you are the _one _exception to the law of nature – that everyone gets unblinded by their soul mate – well…I feel sorry for them. They're obviously too narrow-minded to realize that this magic pertains to _everybody. _And you can't let them delude you into thinking that, Kurt. You _can't_."

Kurt sniffed back a sob. "You're right."

"Now you've got two options," his father continued. "You can stop going to school. You can stay here and Carole will homeschool you. Or you can go back to school, stand your ground, and know that what those kids say to you means nothing. It's up to you."

Kurt was silent for a long time as he thought, but when he finally spoke, his decision was clear.

"I'm going back," he said. "I still have glee club and my friends…besides, you were right about everything." He tried his best to smile. "It's gonna be hard, but if I stay here, that'll be showing all the bullies that they won. They scared me away. I don't want that."

"I'm proud of you, son." A genuine smile broke out on Kurt's face at his father's words. "But I'm going to call the school and set you up for a session with the school psychologist. Emma Pillsbury, I think her name is."

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, Ms. Pillsbury. She and Mr. Schuester unblinded each other last year."

"See? That'll be good, because she has a connection to your favorite teacher. I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself and wanting to fight back, but you need to talk to someone about this, Kurt. Someone who's qualified to deal with problems like this."

Kurt took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay." He paused for a brief second to collect his thoughts. "I'm actually okay with that. I don't like this person I've become – this person with scars up and down his arms. Talking things out always helps me feel so much better."

"Just remember what I told you," his father reminded him. "This magic applies to everyone, kid. I know it seems hard to believe now, but one day someone will take off your blindfold and you'll look them in the eyes and know exactly what it feels like to be loved and adored."

Kurt's heart suddenly started to beat a little faster. "Oh, I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right." Kurt felt himself being pulled into a hug, so he smiled the tiniest bit and hugged his dad back. "Just trust me. You're gonna find your soul mate, Kurt. You hear me? You _will _find that person."

xxx

The rest of the week passed slowly but surely for Blaine. He stayed at home for his homeschool lessons and went to Warblers rehearsal with the rest of the guys in the afternoon, doing his best to avoid any interaction with Sebastian. Their big performance was getting closer and closer, each day leading up to it more monotonous than the last.

But Blaine wasn't stuck in a rut for much longer, because everything changed that weekend when Cooper and Courtney came to visit.

Blaine's brother and his girlfriend, who had unblinded each other two years ago, were the quintessential couple. They were the type that finished each other's sentences, but not in an annoying way. Everyone said they looked absolutely perfect together. Blaine had to trust other people's judgment on that, because he obviously couldn't see for himself, but just being around the two of them gave him the sense that these were two people who really, truly loved each other. Even their names sounded all cutesy together. Blaine only hoped that when he found his true love, people would talk about the two of them the way they talked about Cooper and Courtney.

"So, Blaine," Cooper commented that evening as the whole family was sitting down to dinner, "Dad told me you've got a pretty big performance coming up."

Blaine shrugged. "It's no big deal," he told his brother, taking a bite of salad. Even the simple habit of eating was sometimes difficult for the blind, especially when combined with conversation, so Blaine set his fork down and kept talking. "Just a talent show the blind community center is putting on next week."

"Well, Cooper and I are here until next Friday. We'd love to come watch you perform," Courtney said sweetly. This was the first Blaine had heard that they'd be staying for so long, and he was pleasantly surprised. He liked spending time with his brother, and he'd come to think of Courtney as the sister he'd never had.

"Yeah, if you guys want to come, that'll be awesome," Blaine told her. "It's this coming Tuesday, six o'clock."

"How are the Warblers doing, anyway?" Cooper asked. Being six years Blaine's senior, he already knew most of the guys in the group; Blaine had been hanging out with them since forever.

"They're good," Blaine said, nodding. "David and his girlfriend unblinded each other this past week.."

"Oh, really?" Cooper sounded genuinely happy to hear this. "That's awesome! Is he the first one in the group?"

"Yeah, but Jeff is probably next. And a few of the other guys have been kind of casually dating some girls, but I don't think it's going to become anything serious."

"Probably not," Cooper agreed. "I mean, yeah, it's fun to kind of go on group dates and stuff while you're still blind, just to find out what types of qualities you like in other people, but when you meet _that person_, you'll know."

The conversation soon switched to a different topic and as Blaine ate and talked with his family, he realized that he was finally starting to feel happy again. Not that he'd actually been _sad _up to this point, but for some reason it seemed that now he actually had something to look forward to.

When everyone was finished eating, Blaine and Cooper volunteered to clear the table and do the dishes. After making sure they didn't need any help, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson went to the family room with Courtney, who wanted to show them some pictures from a trip she and Cooper had recently taken. Blaine decided to take advantage of this one-on-one time with his brother to get some things off of his mind – things that had been there since his conversation with Sebastian at the coffee shop earlier in the week.

"Do you mind if I ask you something kind of personal?" Blaine asked once they were completely alone. He had placed himself in charge of washing the dishes, meticulously scrubbing them to the best of his ability before handing them to Cooper, who could actually see where they were supposed to go, to put away.

He was happy to notice that his brother didn't seem too bothered by this. "Sure, what's up?"

"D-did you…," he hesitated, unsure of how to phrase his question, "did you ever like anyone? I mean, before you met Courtney. Did you ever have even a little crush on anyone else?"

Cooper thought for a moment before he answered. "Yeah, but I think that's normal. Like, before you meet your true love, you can interact with different people and kind of be attracted to their good qualities, because those are the same qualities you're going to end up finding in your soul mate. It's like your heart is giving you a preview of the real thing. Before I met Courtney, I kind of had a thing for this girl who loved animals. I knew from the get go that she and I weren't soul mates, but she was just really fun to hang out with and I enjoyed getting to know her. Lo and behold, I met Courtney, who also loves animals and wants to be a vet." He hesitated; Blaine heard the sound of more plates being stacked up and put away. "When you meet the person who's destined to unblind you, you'll figure it out pretty quickly. But until that happens, it's totally okay to just kind of figure out what you like in another person."

Blaine considered this. It was a good response, but it didn't answer what he'd really been trying to ask. He decided to try again, this time being more specific.

"Were any of those people -," He cut himself off and started over. "Did you ever have a little crush like that on another guy?"

He felt himself blushing as he handed his brother a few freshly-washed bowls to put away and turned his head in the opposite direction of where he assumed Cooper was standing.

"I mean, _I _never did," Cooper told him honestly. "But I've heard about it happening. Guys having crushes on guys and girls having crushes on girls. I don't think there's anything weird about it."

He stopped talking for a few seconds, then continued. "Why do you ask?"

Blaine shrugged. "Just wondering."

But Cooper knew his brother too well, and he wasn't about to let this go. "Dude, I know there's something you're not telling me. Just spit it out. You know I've got your back, right?"

Blaine gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine," he said. "I…well, first of all, I kind of had a crush on this guy Jeremiah last year, but that got old pretty fast so it's not important. Anyway…y'know Sebastian? I think he's into me."

Cooper sounded disgusted all of a sudden. "All right, this has nothing to do with my personal opinion about guys being attracted to each other, but I never liked that guy," he admitted. "I don't know. He's just always bothered me. The rest of the Warblers are cool, but there's always just been something about Sebastian."

They were done with the dishes now. Blaine heard Cooper walk over to the kitchen table and pull out a chair to take a seat. "Anyway. Sorry about that. So you think he's got a thing for you?"

"Yeah," Blaine said, nodding. "And it's weird. I mean, I've told him I'm not into him like that but he doesn't seem to get it." He felt his way back over to the table and took a seat next to his brother.

"Some people can't take a hint," Cooper told him. "You've made your point, now you've just gotta wait for him to get it."

Blaine sighed. "I don't know. Then he started telling me that it's possible for two guys to unblind each other, which I think is crazy."

Cooper immediately seemed intrigued as to why Blaine thought this. "Why is that crazy? You already know it's possible for you to have a crush on another guy. You've been there, done that. Who's to say your soul mate isn't a man, too?"

"I don't know!" Blaine countered defensively. "It just seems weird. I don't know. I've never heard of it happening before. Of two men actually _unblinding _each other."

"So just because you've never heard of it happening, it's impossible?" Cooper asked in response.

Blaine had to stop and consider this. Out of everyone he'd met in his life, nobody was better than his brother at saying things that really made him think. Cooper's voice was quieter but still firm when he spoke again.

"Look, I know _you _just said you've never heard of it, but I have," he said. "There's this guy I work with. He and his boyfriend unblinded each other about five years ago, and their love is amazing. Y'know how you and Mom and Dad always say Courtney and I are the perfect couple? These guys are what _I _see as the perfect couple. They'll send each other flowers at work sometimes...just little stuff like that. I think it's so sweet. It _can _happen, Blaine, and it's beautiful if you open your mind to it."

Blaine was silent for a long time. His brother had always been the most open-minded person he'd known, and it was times like this when he envied that trait.

"I don't know," he said after a long silence. "I guess you have a point, but it's still weird for me to think about."

"Just do me a favor?" Cooper requested. "Keep your heart open, Blaine. Otherwise it'll take way longer to find your soul mate than it should."

Blaine bit his lip and nodded. "Okay," he said.

He was unaware at the time, but it was almost like his brother knew what was in store for Blaine.

xxx

When Kurt returned to school the following Monday, he tried to keep in mind what his father had told him. He kept his head high as he walked from class to class and kept his mind clear of any negative thoughts that possibly could have entered his head. All day long, he kept a mantra going in his head. _Nobody pushes the Hummels around. I am a Hummel. Therefore, nobody pushes me around_.

The only trouble that day came in fourth period French class, when Kurt was called on to recite the conjugation of a particular irregular verb. He answered confidently, letting the words roll off his tongue without trepidation. French was his best subject and his favorite class of the day, despite the fact that he sat right in front of one Dave Karofsky, one of his biggest tormentors. The wonderful fate of alphabetical order meant that their last names came right in a row for this particular class, and Dave's convenient seat right behind Kurt made it disgustingly easy for him to whisper taunts in his ear throughout the course of a normal class.

But this time, when Dave leaned forward in his seat and sneered, "Very good, mademoiselle," in Kurt's ear after he'd finished answering the question, Kurt managed to hold his ground. He stayed perfectly still and didn't let a single muscle tense up in his body. He knew Dave was still blind, so it didn't make any difference if his bully saw how he reacted, but there were some students in the class who had their sight. He knew that if they saw this – if they noticed that he wasn't letting the insults faze him – then maybe things would change for him.

He had a newfound hope in his heart as he walked down to Emma Pillsbury's office later that day for his scheduled appointment. Things were still hard, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but at the same time he finally felt free. He'd hated the person those bullies had forced him to become, and finally getting the chance to be himself again was going to be a slow but certainly rewarding process. It would be a while before he would feel comfortable speaking freely at school again, other than when he was just called on in class, but he couldn't do that until he'd stopped caring all together what the bullies had to say to him.

One step at a time. That was how he needed to handle this, with baby steps. Getting rid of his razor had been the first step, and today he'd managed to control himself when insults were hurled his way.

His meeting with Ms. Pillsbury went smoothly. Kurt didn't really know her too well, but she immediately put him at ease with her quirky personality. Talking with her was different than talking to his dad, but it gave him a sense of comfort. He knew she dealt with kids who had similar problems, so it relieved him to know that she knew what she was talking about when she responded to what he had to say.

After school, he headed to glee club rehearsal feeling happier than he had in a long time. Rachel, who could actually see the spring in his step, immediately noticed and rushed to sit beside him.

"You certainly seem cheerful today," she observed with a smile in her voice.

"I am," Kurt told her, grinning. "I'm taking my life in a new direction. I decided I'm not going to let what Dave Karofsky and his friends say get to me anymore. I just started today and I already feel so much better about myself."

"Oh, Kurt, that's wonderful." He felt himself being squeezed into an embrace, so he brought his arms up and hugged her back.

"Thank you," he told her with a smile. "I had a really good talk with my dad, and I went to see Ms. Pillsbury earlier today. They both gave me some really good advice, so now all I need to do is work up the confidence to start talking more in school. No more of this only-speaking-when-spoken-to crap."

He paused and exhaled a blissful sigh. "And…I don't know. I just can't help but get the feeling that I'm due for something amazing. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I can't wait to find out."

Rachel gave his hand a happy little squeeze. "Well, the talent show's tomorrow, so you can start both of those by singing there. You ready?"

Kurt took a deep breath. With everything that had been on his mind lately, he'd completely forgotten about the fact that he would be sharing his voice with countless people tomorrow when he performed. When he _sang_. Suddenly he was paralyzed with fear for a fleeting second.

But he forced himself to let that go and smile at his friend. Negativity and doubtful thoughts would get him nowhere.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked in response. "I was _born _ready."

xxx

Before Blaine knew it, the day of his performance had arrived. He wasn't too nervous at first, because the Warblers had been rehearsing like crazy this past week to get ready for this. He _did_, however, regret the fact that he'd ended up sitting next to Sebastian in the auditorium where the show was going to take place.

"You ready for this?" Sebastian asked once the guys had taken their seats and were waiting for the show to begin.

It was the third time Sebastian had asked him that in an attempt to make conversation today. He'd obviously picked up on the fact that Blaine had been trying to avoid him all week. Blaine ignored him and flipped open the show program so he could read it with his fingers.

"Looks like we're right at the end of the first act," he said loud enough so the rest of the guys could hear. "Right after…," he moved his fingers up so he could read the name of the act before them, "the New Directions Glee Club, featuring soloist Kurt Hummel."

He tucked his program away. "I think we should start heading backstage at least three sets before ours, just so we can be there and be ready."

The show started not long after that, so Blaine settled in to watch (well, listen to) the first few acts. Most of the performers were good, but there were none that completely blew him away. Occasionally Sebastian would make a comment about the person or group that was currently performing, obviously trying to get Blaine to say something in response, but Blaine refused to say a word to him. Cooper was right – some people really couldn't take a hint.

They got up and headed backstage when it was time, with the help of a few sighted people who had volunteered to help guide the blind through the narrow aisles of the auditorium. Once they were backstage and waiting in the wings, Blaine gathered the rest of the guys around him for a little pep talk.

"We got this," he told them, trying to sound reassuring. "None of the acts so far have been too great, in my opinion, and nobody's done a capella yet. People will remember us because we did something different."

"Good point," Jeff agreed. "Plus, it helps that we're closing the first act. Who are people going to be talking about at intermission? The awesome kickass a capella group, or 'New Directions Glee Club featuring soloist Kurt Hummel'?"

"Hey, you never know," Nick chimed in. "They could end up being really good. They haven't even performed yet."

"Actually, we're about to find out for ourselves," Blaine said when he heard the emcee announcing that particular act. "Shhh, let's just listen."

There was a soft acoustic guitar introduction before the actual singing began. As Blaine began to listen, he had no idea what was in store for him when this Kurt Hummel began to sing. He had no idea that his entire world was about to be turned upside down in the best possible way.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

From the first note, Blaine was absolutely paralyzed with wonder. He wouldn't have been able to move even if he'd wanted to. All he could do was stand still and listen. Kurt Hummel's voice was unlike anything he'd ever heard before. It was high-pitched and buoyant and so completely beautiful in every way. Blaine hoped Jeff was eating his words.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these sunken eyes and learn to see

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly

Into the light of the dark black night."

For whatever reason, Blaine found himself thinking back to the conversation he'd had with Cooper a few days earlier. He distinctly recalled the way his brother had told him that it was possible for two men to unblind each other and that when Blaine met the person who was destined to unblind him, he would know. Blaine hadn't exactly met Kurt Hummel yet, but listening to his voice from backstage did unimaginable things to him. Blaine had never felt these things about anyone else before. He couldn't even describe what he'd been feeling to himself. He couldn't decide if he should be happy or scared about these things he was feeling.

"Blackbird fly, blackbird fly

Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

He heard the audience erupt into a huge ovation and immediately found himself clapping right along with them. None of the other Warblers applauded, but it seemed that they were in too much shock from what they'd just heard.

"How are we supposed to follow _that_?" Blaine heard Wes ask incredulously.

"Okay, okay, I was wrong. That kid's got a hell of a voice," Jeff said apologetically. "_Damn_."

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently Kurt Hummel's voice was just _that _good, because the rest of the guys seemed to be in awe as well. Maybe those happy yet terrifying feelings he'd been having during the performance meant nothing. At least, that's what Blaine hoped. The other Warblers seemed to be in just as much awe as he was, so maybe those feelings had been a result of Kurt Hummel's incredible voice and nothing else.

There was the sound of a large crowd of footsteps approaching and Blaine assumed that the group that had just performed was making its way offstage. He carefully stepped aside, out of the way of the direction the footsteps seemed to be headed…and ended up smacking right into someone who had been walking into the same path from the opposite direction.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" the person who he'd run into said immediately. "Are you okay?"

But Blaine couldn't answer right away, because the person's voice had struck him breathless. It didn't take him long at all to figure out that this was the spoken version of the beautiful voice he'd heard onstage just moments earlier. This was Kurt Hummel.

Before he even realized it, those same unexplainable feelings came back, and Blaine _knew_.

"No, no, you're fine," he heard himself say weakly. "I-I'm okay."

"Kurt!" There was a sudden female voice interrupting their small conversation. "Why didn't you wait for me? I would have helped you."

Kurt spoke again, but this time his voice sounded similar to the way Blaine's just had – weak and almost awestruck. "Thanks, Rachel. I'm coming."

Blaine heard Kurt and the girl who was apparently called Rachel walking away. There was nothing left for him to do but walk carefully out onto the stage and wonder.

xxx

Kurt had tried to push away all thoughts of the boy he'd accidentally run into. They'd barely even said fifteen words to each other but that brief conversation had been enough to make Kurt feel things he'd never felt before. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe that boy was his soul mate, but even the thought of that frightened him. They'd barely even spoken, for crying out loud. How could he already be having such powerful feelings for someone he knew nothing about?

He heard the emcee announcing the next group as "a capella sensations The Warblers, featuring Blaine Anderson on lead vocals" and he wasn't sure why, but something made him stop in his tracks. He knew they still had to be backstage in the wings, because Rachel immediately began tugging on his hand and telling him that they had to get back to their seats. Kurt didn't listen to her. He stayed where he was and listened as the group onstage began laying down an a capella beat.

Kurt let go of Rachel's hand and carefully made his way back over towards the stage. The boy he'd just run into – the boy who was quite possibly his soul mate – was up there on that stage. He'd be damned if he was about to walk back to his seat out in the audience and miss this.

"You think I'm pretty without any makeup on

You think I'm funny when I tell the punch line wrong

I know you get me so I let my walls come down, down

Before you met me I was all right but things

Were kinda heavy, you brought me to life

Now every February, you'll be my valentine, valentine."

Kurt didn't think there was anything wrong with two members of the same gender being each other's soul mates. In fact, two of his friends in glee club – Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez – had been dating for quite some time and everyone knew they were going to unblind each other eventually, but they hadn't taken that crucial step yet. But with all the taunts Kurt had gotten at school about his voice and how "girly" he sounded, he'd always kind of had the idea in the back of his mind that maybe he would be unblinded by a man one day, only to discover that his soul mate had expected him to be a girl from the way he sounded. Kurt wasn't sure how he felt about that. He had no problem with the idea that maybe his eventual soul mate was a boy – maybe even _this _boy, Blaine Anderson singing onstage – but he wanted said soul mate to love him for exactly who he was, not end up disappointed because he wasn't a girl.

The more he listened to Blaine Anderson sing, though, two things became clear. The first was the fact that the Warblers' lead singer was most definitely the boy he'd run into a few minutes earlier. The second was the undeniable feeling that maybe, just maybe, this was it. Blaine Anderson was the one.

"Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love

We can dance until we die, you and I

We'll be young forever

You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream

The way you turn me on, I can't sleep

Let's run away and don't ever look back

Don't ever look back

My heart stops when you look at me

Just one touch now baby I believe

This is real, so take a chance and don't ever look back

Don't ever look back."

Despite the possible irony of the lyrics – Kurt had no idea if Blaine Anderson was blind, but if he was, then it was strange for him to be singing about looking and seeing – Kurt was awestruck. He was barely even aware of Rachel's quiet footsteps stepping up beside him as Blaine Anderson began the second verse.

"We drove to Cali and got drunk on the beach

Got a motel and build a fort out of sheets

I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece

I'm complete."

"They're really good," Rachel's voice commented out of the blue, and Kurt immediately shushed her.

"Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love

We can dance until we die, you and I

We'll be young forever

You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream

The way you turn me on, I can't sleep

Let's run away and don't ever look back

Don't ever look back

My heart stops when you look at me

Just one touch now baby I believe

This is real, so take a chance and don't ever look back

Don't ever look back."

As their a capella voices swelled into the bridge of the song, Kurt felt a chill go down his spine. He knew it seemed silly, but for some reason he got the feeling that Blaine Anderson was singing directly to him.

"I'mma get your heart racing in my skin tight jeans

Be your teenage dream tonight

Let you put your hands on me in my skin tight jeans

Be your teenage dream tonight."

Well, Kurt thought, if Blaine Anderson truly was the one for him, then maybe it made sense that the other boy seemed to be directing the lyrics to him. More chills raced throughout his entire body as the group finished the song.

"You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream

The way you turn me on, I can't sleep

Let's run away and don't ever look back

Don't ever look back

My heart stops when you look at me

Just one touch now baby I believe

This is real, so take a chance and don't ever look back

Don't ever look back

I'mma get your heart racing in my skin tight jeans

Be your teenage dream tonight

Let you put your hands on me in my skin tight jeans

Be your teenage dream tonight."

He immediately heard Rachel applauding enthusiastically next to him, but Kurt was too awestruck to move.

"Wasn't that incredible?" Rachel asked happily as she clapped for them.

Kurt didn't answer her question. He was silent for a few more seconds but when he spoke, he couldn't even believe the words that had come out of his own mouth.

"I want to know him."

He felt his face turning warm and immediately hated himself for having said those words out loud, but he didn't have a chance to take them back because Rachel was grabbing his hand and pulling him into step. "Then come on!"

There was nothing Kurt could do but let himself be dragged in a direction he couldn't see. Finally Rachel brought him to a stop and spoke, but not to him.

"Excuse me." There was a pause while Rachel presumably got the attention of Blaine Anderson before she spoke again. "Are you Blaine?"

"Yes, I am," was the other boy's response. It sounded like he was smiling.

"My name is Rachel Berry and my friend Kurt Hummel is here with me," Rachel introduced. Kurt took the way she'd introduced him to mean that Blaine was blind, because he wouldn't have been able to see Kurt standing beside Rachel. "We're in New Directions together and we just wanted to tell you how incredible your performance was just now," she continued with a polite smile in her voice.

There was a brief silence; Kurt assumed Rachel and Blaine were shaking hands. A few seconds later, he felt Rachel grabbing his own hand and placing it into Blaine's so that they could shake hands, too. Kurt felt what seemed like a million sparks of electricity race through him when his skin came in contact with Blaine's. It started from his hand and shot up through his arm until he could feel it in every cell in his body. His heart was racing with almost dangerous speed. _This was it_.

"Oh, thank you so much," Blaine said. He seemed almost nervous now; he didn't let go of Kurt's hand. "I…you were amazing, too. Your voice took my breath away."

He was speaking directly to Kurt now, making him weak in the knees. Kurt's mind flashed back to all the times he'd heard that when he met his soul mate, he would know. Well, Kurt knew. He was still absolutely terrified of what this meant, but at the same time it brought him an unimaginable thrill to think that he'd finally met _the one_. He couldn't help wondering what was going through Blaine's mind. Suddenly he just wanted to spend more time with Blaine and just _talk _to him, get to know him a little bit.

"Thank you," he said humbly, then hesitated for a brief second. "Hey, um, it's intermission now, you want to go get something to eat?"

Blaine seemed to like this idea. "Yeah, sure, that sounds great."

Kurt turned towards where Rachel was standing. "Rachel, do you mind…?"

"No problem," she said cheerfully. Kurt felt his hand gently being pulled apart from Blaine's so Rachel could help them find their way out to the concessions booth in the lobby.

Kurt found himself biting back a smile as he let Rachel guide him out from the backstage area. Maybe things were finally falling into place for him, after all.

xxx

"Look at them," Rachel commented with a smile, her eyes never leaving Kurt and Blaine. "I think Kurt's found his true love."

Will Schuester watched the two boys sitting at a secluded table, sharing a box of popcorn and chatting amiably. He knew Kurt had been having some trouble at school, but whenever he reported the accounts of bullying he witnessed from time to time, the school administration never seemed to take much action in changing things. Will had taken it upon himself to be a mentor to Kurt and let him know that he was always welcome in glee club, and that it was a safe place for him to be himself. And Kurt seemed to like being in glee club. It was the one time all day when he could come out of his shell and be himself with his real friends.

But he had to admit, he had never seen the kid as happy as he seemed to be with Blaine. Kurt's face was absolutely glowing as he talked with Blaine. Will knew that if he could see Kurt's eyes, they would be alive and sparkling with pure love.

"I think you're right," he agreed.

"We have to talk to Blaine," Rachel said. "Get him to join New Directions. We would have to find out what his school situation is…if he's homeschooled, maybe we could convince him to come to school with us and join our club. He and Kurt would get to spend a lot of time together, and with everything Kurt's going through, I think it would be good for him if Blaine was there for him at school."

Will paused for a moment and considered this. It wasn't really his place to try and recruit new students to join New Directions, but he couldn't help but think about how good this would be for Kurt. If there was anything Kurt needed, it was someone who would love and support him no matter what, through thick and thin, especially at school where he was so vulnerable. And from the looks of it, Blaine was that someone for Kurt.

"I'll see what I can do," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are always appreciated! :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**This picks up right where the last one left off :) Sorry for the late update!**

Chapter 3

Blaine didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was happening. His brother was right. _Sebastian _was right. This boy – this Kurt Hummel – was unlike any other human being Blaine had ever known. He made Blaine feel things he'd never felt before. He thought back to all the times he'd heard people talk about meeting their soul mates: _When you meet that person, you'll know_.

Blaine knew.

He could feel it in the heat that rushed to color his face in pleasure whenever Kurt said his name in that soft, buoyant voice of his. He felt it in the electricity that raced from his fingertips through his entire body when he reached into the box of popcorn they were sharing at the same time as Kurt and their fingers brushed together. He felt it in the way his heart raced with pleasure whenever he made a witty comment that elicited a peal of angelic giggles from Kurt.

But he _shouldn't _be feeling these things. No – it was wrong. It was unnatural for two men to be each other's soul mates, destined to give the other his sight. At least, that's what Blaine had always believed up until the moment he'd accidentally bumped into Kurt backstage.

He was confused. Never before in his life had he envisioned this outcome, but now that he was here with Kurt, it seemed that all the pieces of his life had finally fallen into place. He was content for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

He had to admit, though, he was terrified of what this meant. There was no doubt in his mind that he and Kurt would give each other sight someday, but the thought of that both thrilled him and scared the hell out of him at the same time.

"Kurt?"

An unfamiliar voice had interrupted their conversation. Blaine instinctively turned in the direction from which the sound had come, wondering who the stranger who had spoken could possibly be.

Kurt, of course, recognized the voice that had addressed him. "Hello, Mr. Schuester," he said politely. "This is my…my new friend, Blaine Anderson. He's the lead singer of the Warblers."

The way Kurt stumbled over his introduction of Blaine made it obvious that he hadn't known what to say. Surely Kurt knew, too, but _This is my soul mate, Blaine Anderson _hardly seemed appropriate when introducing someone that one had just met.

"Hello, Blaine," the man called Mr. Schuester greeted him. "My name is Will Schuester; I'm the coach of the New Directions glee club. I was actually just coming over here because I wanted to talk to you."

This took Blaine by surprise. "O-Oh. Okay." He cleared his throat nervously.

There was the sound of a chair scooting back from the table. "If you need to speak with him in private, I can leave you two alone," Kurt said.

"No, stay here," Mr. Schuester told him. "This involves you, too."

Blaine heard Kurt's chair move closer to the table again.

"Blaine, are you homeschooled or do you go to public school?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"I've been homeschooled my whole life," Blaine told him. "Lately I've kind of wanted to maybe switch to public school, though."

There was a pause before Mr. Schuester spoke again. "Blaine, we were all incredibly impressed with your performance earlier. We could really use someone with your talent in New Directions. I know it's not really my place to be doing this, but now that you've mentioned it, I was wondering if you'd be interested in transferring so you could join us."

Blaine's immediate reaction, of course, was complete pleasant surprise. Being in New Directions meant being with Kurt, and despite his confusion about the sudden situation Blaine wasn't going to pass up any opportunity to spend time with him. But he tried not to let this show on his face and made an effort to remain calm instead.

"I would love that," he told Mr. Schuester. "Your group…blew me away. Especially Kurt. I've never heard anyone like him. I'd be honored to join such a talented group."

"You should," Kurt encouraged, and Blaine's heart started beating just a little faster upon hearing the enthusiasm in his voice. "I…I know I'd personally love to have you on board."

"If you want, I can find my parents and we can talk to them about it," Blaine suggested to Mr. Schuester.

"Sounds good," the teacher agreed.

They stood up from the table and, with a little guidance from some kind sighted people, Blaine was able to find his parents along with Cooper and Courtney. The whole time, though, Kurt remained on his mind.

xxx

Later that night, Blaine was alone in his room, using his fingers to read a page of sheet music he'd been wanting the Warblers to perform for quite some time. Now, though, he wasn't sure if he'd get the chance, because it was official. He was going to be mainstreamed into public school, and he was going to be with Kurt.

Mr. Schuester hadn't mentioned anything about Kurt earlier that day when he and Blaine had sat down together with Blaine's parents to discuss his options. The teacher had simply said that Blaine had been blessed with a remarkable talent and being part of a group and school community that would help nurture said talent would be good for him. Also, he thought Blaine would get along well with the other students in the group and it would give him lots of opportunities to make new friends. He didn't mention Kurt by name, but Blaine knew it was implied.

Blaine had been happy when his parents reacted with surprising acceptance to the idea. Of course, nothing made him happier than the thought of spending more time with Kurt. The only potential problem was the fact that he might not be able to spend as much time rehearsing with the Warblers, but he would cross that bridge when and if he ever came to it.

He heard the telephone ring downstairs but paid it no mind. For a moment longer, he lost himself in the music beneath his fingertips before a knock came to the door.

"Blaine?" It was Cooper. "Phone's for you. Someone named Kurt?"

Blaine's heart started beating just the slightest bit faster at the mention of the other boy's name.

"Oh, thank you," he told his brother as Cooper handed him the phone. "Hello?"

There was a sound of retreating footsteps and the door being pulled shut as Cooper left the room to give his brother privacy. Which turned out to be a very good thing, because Blaine couldn't contain the embarrassing smile that lit up his face when Kurt began to speak.

"Hey, Blaine. It's me. Kurt."

Blaine laughed. "I know that."

Kurt seemed genuinely surprised that Blaine had automatically known it was him. "But how…?"

"One, my brother told me when he came in my room to give me the phone. And two, your voice. It's very distinct. I could recognize it anywhere."

"Oh." Kurt seemed taken aback, then suddenly hesitant. "Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Is what a good thing or a bad thing?"

"My voice." All of a sudden Kurt seemed shy and embarrassed and Blaine would have given anything to figure out why. "And the fact that it's so distinct."

"It's definitely a good thing," Blaine reassured him. "It's unique. It sets you apart."

He could hear Kurt smiling through the phone. "Oh, well, thank you."

The way he said it seemed to imply that he'd never before had anyone compliment him on his voice the way Blaine just had.

Kurt cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, sorry about that. I was just wondering how it went when you and your parents talked to Mr. Schue earlier. Did you decide anything?"

"Actually, yes. I'm transferring so I can join New Directions and sing with you guys." Blaine had the biggest smile on his face. Talking with Kurt like this was so easy and natural. Even the simplest conversations made him completely forget his prior inhibitions and doubts about the possibility that two men could unblind each other. He wasn't sure why, but talking to Kurt gave him a strange sense of _hope_.

He heard Kurt draw back a gasp of pleasant surprise. "Blaine, that's wonderful! You have no idea how happy this makes me!"

That smile. It was evident in his voice yet again. Blaine may not have known what dark secrets Kurt was hiding from him, but he was thrilled to realize how genuinely happy he seemed to make the other boy.

"Actually, I think I do," he shot back with a smile of his own.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Blaine told him. "It's your voice again. I can _hear _you smiling, even though I've never seen it. I've never seen anyone smile. Is that weird?"

For a second after the words left his mouth, he wished he could take him back. Maybe he shouldn't have referenced his lack of sight just yet. Maybe Kurt would get freaked out by the whole we're-potentially-soulmates thing. But when he spoke, there was no sign of trepidation in his voice.

"No, I don't think it's weird," he said.

"Okay, good," Blaine laughed. "But yeah, I've wanted to mainstream myself into public school for a while now and now that I have the opportunity, it's like…why not?"

"Can I be honest with you?" Kurt asked in response.

"Yeah, definitely. Go ahead."

"Public school is all right, but it's really not all it's cracked up to be," Kurt admitted. "It's hell, actually. Glee club is the only good part of my day."

Blaine had the feeling that whatever Kurt meant by this wasn't good at all, but he couldn't help wanting to know more. "W-What makes you say that?"

"T-There are bullies." Kurt's voice was soft. "They probably wouldn't have anything against you, but with me…they never let up."

"Kurt…," Blaine's voice broke as he spoke his name.

"Y'know how you just were talking to me about my voice and how you liked how unique it is?"

"Mhm."

"Not everyone seems to think so."

It was silent for a long time. Blaine was about to ask Kurt if he was okay, but the other boy finally spoke.

"I get picked on every single day for how I sound," Kurt whispered brokenly. It sounded like he was crying. "T-The bullies…they can't see me and I can't see them, but that doesn't stop them. They tell me I sound like a girl and that nobody will ever unblind me because they would be so confused from the sound of my voice. Sometimes they even tell me I should 'do everyone a favor and shut the fuck up.'"

The sound of that word coming from Kurt's innocent mouth made Blaine flinch, but that wasn't nearly the worst thing about what Kurt had just said. He couldn't believe anyone could say such things to someone so _good_. Kurt would never hurt anyone, but he suffered such abuse. Where was the justice in that?

He needed to be with Kurt. Right now. That much he knew. He couldn't comfort him over the phone; he had to _be _there with him.

"Kurt? Can I come over? I feel like this is something we should probably talk about in person."

There was a brief pause. "Sure."

He gave Blaine his address and, after making sure Blaine had a way to get there, Kurt whispered goodbye and hung up the phone.

Blaine kept holding the receiver to his ear even after Kurt had hung up and the only sound he could hear was the dial tone. Finally he sighed and felt for the large End Call button, pressed it, and felt his way out of his room.

"Coop?" he called warily, not sure where his brother was.

"Down here!" was the answering call from downstairs.

Blaine made his way downstairs, making sure to grip the railing tightly, toward the sound of his older brother's voice.

"Right here, Blaine," Cooper's voice said. He took the phone receiver from Blaine's hands. "Here, I'll hang that up for you. What's up?"

"Can you drive me over to Kurt's?"

"Sure, no problem. Where does he live?"

Blaine told him the address and Cooper took ahold of his arm to guide him outside. Once they were in the car, Blaine heard Cooper start the engine and felt the car start to move backward as his brother reversed it out of the driveway.

"It just hit me who Kurt was right after I gave you the phone," Cooper said. "He's the kid who sang that song about the blackbird right before you guys, right?"

"Yes," Blaine told him.

"The guy you were talking to and eating popcorn with during intermission?"

Blaine felt a blush coloring his face. "You saw us?"

"Yeah, Courtney and I went out to get something to eat and we saw you two talking. He seemed pretty into you."

"W-What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Cooper admitted. "I don't really know how to explain it. But the way you guys were interacting…that's the way people who are soul mates act around each other."

An even more intense blush washed over him. Blaine was glad his brother was driving, which meant he had to keep his eyes on the road. He knew it had to be true – Kurt had to be the one – but now that he wasn't _with _Kurt, he had to evaluate the reality of the situation. "But we…we just met."

"Doesn't matter," his brother said. "The magic behind this whole blindfold thing doesn't have a time requirement. That sounds dumb, but it's true. If you're meant for each other, then people who can see will be able to tell right away."

"You could tell?"

"Oh, yeah. You two were very attuned to each other. I think that's the best way to describe it."

"What about Courtney?" Blaine asked. "Could she tell?"

"She was actually the one who pointed you guys out to me," Cooper said. "I was paying attention to something else, and she nudged me and kind of pointed to you guys and said, 'I think your little brother's found the one for him.'"

"He _is_," Blaine confessed. "You were right. I _know _he is. But…it's just still weird for me to get used to the idea. I never thought it was _possible_, y'know? For two men to give each other sight, be each other's true loves…but now that it's happening to me…I don't know, it just feels like this is how it's supposed to be."

He sighed. "Sorry about all this. I'm just kind of dumping everything on you."

"Don't worry about it," Cooper reassured him. "What are brothers for?"

Blaine had to smile at that. He leaned his head against the cool glass of the window and was silent for a long time.

After a while, though, he thought of something else he so desperately wanted to know.

"Hey, Coop?"

"Yeah?"

"W-What does Kurt look like?"

He knew it made no difference, because Blaine had never seen _anything_. He had no idea what color looked like, or what people's facial features were supposed to look like – he had no standard of comparison. But for some reason he couldn't quite put his finger on, he wanted to know.

"Y'know? For someone who supposedly didn't believe that two guys could be each other's soul mates, you could do a hell of a lot worse," Cooper told him. "Kurt's a good-looking guy. He's got this brown hair that's combed up and gelled into place and styled really neat. Actually pretty impressive for someone who can't see, unless someone helps him. Pale skin, but you can tell he takes excellent care of it. No blemishes, no acne…nothing. He's a little bit taller than you and skinny, but he's definitely got some muscle on him. He's handsome. You two look good together."

Cooper paused for a second. When he spoke again, it almost seemed like an afterthought.

"And he's got a real nice smile. It's interesting, though, because whenever he talks to anyone else, he gives them this kinda shy, tiny little smile that doesn't show any teeth. But when he talks to you, he gets this huge smile that kinda lights up his entire face. Like, his whole mouth is wide open and he's just _glowing_. It's actually pretty cool."

It was probably a good thing that the next words out of his mouth, just seconds later, were "Oh, this is it," because Blaine had absolutely no idea how to respond to that.

Cooper parked the car and got out to help Blaine. The whole time, as his brother guided him closer to what he presumed was Kurt's house, his heart was beating ferociously. It was sensations like this – the need to just _be _with Kurt, to feel his presence – that made him forget all his previous doubts. Kurt had been made for him, and he for Kurt.

"You okay?" he heard Cooper ask once they had stopped walking.

Blaine nodded. "I'm fine. Just…just a little nervous and excited and kind of flustered and—"

"Oh, yeah. He's definitely yours," Cooper acknowledged, cutting him off, and before Blaine had a chance to protest he heard his brother knocking on the door.

xxx

Kurt's heart had been racing with anticipation since he'd gotten off the phone with Blaine, but the second the knock came to the door he thought he was about to burst with excitement. He had _never _been this happy before. Just the thought that Blaine was going to be _here_ brought him joy. And he didn't even mind that they were going to probably end up having a very serious conversation about Kurt's past, because Kurt wanted Blaine to know him. He wanted Blaine to know him and he wanted to know Blaine and he wanted them to be attuned to each other in a way that nobody else on earth had ever been attuned to another person. He wanted to touch Blaine, to hold his hand and feel himself safe in Blaine's arms, to kiss his lips which were probably soft and wonderful and probably tasted like a dream. He had never _ached _for somebody the way he was aching for Blaine. And when the time came, he wanted the two of them to give each other sight.

But Kurt was getting ahead of himself. All of that would come with time, but for now he had to answer the door.

He felt his way through the living room toward the front door and pulled it open. The voice that greeted him didn't belong to Blaine, but it sounded similar to his.

"Hi. Are you Kurt?"

Kurt nodded, assuming that the person who had spoken wasn't blind, considering how he could obviously see Kurt at the door. "Yes, that's me."

"I'm Cooper Anderson, Blaine's brother," the unfamiliar voice said again. "He asked me to drive him over here, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to meet the guy he hasn't been able to shut up about." He laughed.

"Coop, shut _up_," Blaine mumbled, sounding embarrassed, then continued shyly. "Hi, Kurt."

Kurt smiled. "Hi, Blaine."

"Well, you guys have fun." As Cooper spoke, Kurt felt him grab his hand by the wrist and place it into Blaine's, so he could lead the other boy inside. Kurt tried to ignore the sparks that seemed to fly through his body when his skin came in contact with Blaine's. "Nice to meet you, Kurt."

"You too," Kurt said politely. He stepped inside, still holding onto Blaine's hand to help guide him, and shut the door behind the two of them.

Blaine spoke up once the two of them were alone. "Sorry about my brother," he said. "I was telling him about you and I guess I got a little bit carried away."

Kurt laughed, secretly thrilled that Blaine had cared so much to tell his brother about him. "That's okay," he reassured him. "I'm flattered, actually."

"Really?" Blaine's voice suddenly took on a different tone, one that interested Kurt very much. "I—"

"So is this the famous Blaine Anderson I've been hearing about all afternoon?" Kurt resisted the urge to groan when his father's voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. _Really, Dad? Is it necessary for you to be here right now? _

"Mr. Hummel?" Blaine guessed, obviously unable to see who was there.

"Yeah, but call me Burt. 'Mr. Hummel' sounds too formal," Kurt heard his dad say.

"Burt. I…yes, I'm Blaine Anderson," Blaine said politely. Then, because now it was apparently Kurt's turn to be embarrassed, "He's been talking about me all afternoon, huh?"

"Yeah, well, that's a bit of an understatement. I don't think he's gone five minutes without saying your name. I haven't seen him this excited about anything in a long—"

"Dad!" Kurt interrupted abruptly. "Let's not scare him away just yet, please."

"Gotcha," he heard his dad say. "I'll get out of your hair. You guys let me know if you need anything."

Kurt heard the sound of his father's retreating footsteps and suddenly was very much aware of the fact that he and Blaine were still standing in the front hallway, holding hands.

"Come on, let's go upstairs," he said, gently leading Blaine in the direction of the stairs. He knew his own house well enough that he could feel his way around pretty easily, but something about the fact that he was holding onto Blaine made it significantly harder to focus on carefully making his way upstairs.

When they got to his room, Kurt shut the door behind them and led Blaine over to the bed. "You can go ahead and sit down," he offered. "I just wanted to come up here away from my dad and Carole and Finn." He had already explained his interesting family situation to Blaine earlier. "I-It's not really something I like to talk about, so…"

He trailed off and perched on the edge of his bed without ever finishing his sentence.

"Kurt, um…if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." Blaine's voice was gentle and reassuring. Kurt felt his weight settling down on the bed beside him.

Kurt shook his head. "No. I…I don't mind talking to you about it," he admitted. "I-It's different than talking to anyone else."

Blaine was silent, waiting for him to continue, so he did.

"I basically explained it all over the phone," he said softly. "And it's just hard, because part of the reason we have to wear these stupid blindfolds is to learn how to see each other for who we truly are, which can only happen by _not _seeing, y'know?" He stopped abruptly for a second. "Am I making any sense?"

For a second, he considered elaborating on his pain and telling Blaine about the scars that covered his arms, but decided against it. He didn't want to scare the other boy away just yet.

"You are," Blaine said. "Maybe these blindfolds don't make our world as perfect as it should be."

"They don't," Kurt agreed. "What's the point? If they make fun of me when they can't even see me, I can't even imagine what it'll be like when some of them start getting their sight. I'm sure they'll find certain aspects of my appearance to pick on, which really isn't fair considering that _I _don't even know what I look like."

"Cooper said you're handsome," Blaine offered helpfully.

This was one of the last things Kurt had ever expected to hear. "When did he say that?"

"On the way over here." Blaine suddenly sounded embarrassed. "I…I asked him what you look like. I was kinda curious."

Kurt smiled. He had to admit, Blaine's curiosity brought him hope. "Well, I hope he's right. It would be nice to have one redeeming quality, even if it _is _something as shallow as my appearance."

"Don't say that," Blaine told him. "You have lots of redeeming qualities. I know that and I can't even see you."

Kurt scoffed. "Name one."

"Your voice," Blaine said immediately. Kurt was about to protest, but Blaine kept right on talking and didn't leave room for him to get a word in. "I know you don't like it, but I do. It sets you apart from everyone else and if other people can't accept that, then screw them. You're better than them, anyway. And when you sing…Kurt, it takes my breath away. It's…it's beautiful."

Kurt's mouth fell open just the tiniest bit. That simple word had never meant so much to him before.

"And…and I know we just met, but I can already tell you're one of the sweetest and most selfless people I've ever known. You've already taught me so much about myself and about how to be a better person. I just…you're _amazing_."

It was the most amazing compliment anyone had ever paid Kurt. He felt a tiny, involuntary smile spreading onto his face.

"Thank you," he whispered. "That…that means a lot coming from you."

"Oh, I'm nothing special," Blaine said humbly. "Just…Blaine. Plain Blaine. It even rhymes." He laughed humorlessly.

Kurt took his next action without even thinking. He reached out tentatively toward where Blaine was sitting and very carefully placed his hand on the other boy's arm.

"You are special," Kurt said quietly, because he was under the impression that Blaine needed him just as much as he needed Blaine. "And the sooner you realize that, the happier you'll be."

Blaine seemed to be considering this. "I've definitely been needing some happiness lately, that's for sure," he said. "I feel like I've just been stuck in this awful rut with no way out. I'm going nowhere fast. It's hard to explain."

Kurt smiled. He was well aware of the fact that his hand was still on Blaine's arm but he didn't dare move it. Plus, Blaine didn't seem to mind.

"Joining New Directions will help with that. I promise," he said. "Public school itself may not be so great, but you're going to love singing in glee club with us. It'll definitely get you out of that rut." He shrugged, even though he knew Blaine couldn't see. "Besides, it makes _me _happy, and not much about school makes me happy."

"I'm excited," Blaine told him. "And if there's anything I can do to make it better for you…let me know. I'm serious, Kurt. I may have just met you, but I think you're really awesome and I…I just want you to be happy."

Kurt smiled softly in disbelief. "Nobody's ever said anything like that to me before."

"Well, it's true," Blaine said, then yawned involuntarily. "God, I'm exhausted. It's gotta be late by now."

Kurt was getting pretty tired himself, but at the same time, he didn't want Blaine to leave. He wanted to spend as much time with him as he possibly could, but he knew that was impossible; Blaine had to leave sooner or later.

He felt Blaine's weight being lifted off the bed as he stood up. "I should get going. I don't want to overstay my welcome, I'm gonna call Coop and ask him to come get me. Can I use your phone?"

Or, Kurt thought, maybe Blaine _didn't _have to leave.

"No," he said hastily. "J-just stay here tonight. I don't want your brother to have to come all the way back out here…it _is _pretty late…"

"Are you sure?" Blaine asked warily. "Your family won't mind?"

"Oh, of course not. My dad seems to love you already and I'm sure Carole and Finn will, too." Kurt smiled a small, victorious smirk to himself when he felt Blaine sitting down on the bed next to him again. "You can have my bed; I'll sleep on the floor. I have tons of extra clothes you can borrow…seriously, Blaine, it's no big deal."

"Okay," Blaine said. "Can I still use your phone, though? I should probably call home and let my folks know I'm staying over here."

By now, Kurt's heart was beating faster than ever before. Everything had come so quickly and out of the blue, but it was wonderful. In the course of a day, he'd managed to not only meet his soul mate but also really started getting to _know _said soul mate. At this point twenty four hours ago, if someone had told Kurt that he was on the verge of meeting the love of his life, he wouldn't have believed that person for a second.

"Sure," he said after spacing out for a few seconds. "I'll be right back."

xxx

When Kurt returned with the phone a few minutes later, Blaine realized that his hands were clammy as he carefully dialed his home phone, carefully reading the numbers with his fingers. As he pressed the phone to his ear, he thought he could make out the sound of Kurt leaving the room. The phone rang on the other end of the line and Blaine found himself silently hoping against hope that his brother would answer, as opposed to one of his parents.

"Hello?" a sweet female voice answered after the third ring.

Blaine felt a rush of relief flood through his body. It wasn't Cooper, but at least it wasn't his mom or dad. For some reason, Blaine got the feeling that his brother would be a lot more understanding about this situation than his parents would.

"Hi, Courtney," he greeted her. "It's me. Blaine."

"Oh, hi! Do you want me to get your brother? He fell asleep on the couch watching some sports thing on TV with your dad, but I can wake him up if you want."

Blaine laughed. "No, thanks," he told her. "Could you just tell my parents…or tell Coop when he wakes up…just let my family know that I'm staying over at Kurt's tonight?"

Courtney was silent for a few seconds as she tried to figure out who Blaine was talking about, then gasped as she realized who it had to be. "Kurt? You mean that cute boy you were talking with at the talent show earlier today? The one who sang the Blackbird song?"

Blaine blushed. "Yeah, that's him. I'm over at his place now and I don't want one of you guys to have to come get me, since it's pretty late, and he invited me to stay over here, so—"

"Blaine, you're rambling," Courtney interrupted, giggling a little bit. "I _knew _you were into him. Cooper and I totally called it when we saw you two talking earlier today."

Blaine silently cursed the fact that he'd known Courtney long enough now that she could pick up on his nervous habit of babbling randomly.

"I am, okay?" he admitted. "But…it's weird. I _love _how this feels, but I never thought it was possible for two guys to unblind each other. It's a little strange getting used to the fact that my soul mate is another boy, but at the same time…nobody else can make me feel the way he does."

"It really is an amazing feeling, once you _know _that you've found the person who's going to give you sight," Courtney agreed. "Just take it slow, okay? Nobody says you two _have _to unblind each other tonight. If you _really _take your time getting to know him for who he is, then the moment when you two give each other your sight will only be that much more special."

Blaine smiled. Cooper and Courtney really _were _perfect together. Both of them always seemed to know exactly what to say.

"Thanks, Court," he told her appreciatively. "I'll let you go. Just let everyone know where I am, okay?"

"Okay," she told him. "Bye, Blaine."

He hung up the phone and lay back on Kurt's bed, curling himself into an exhausted little ball, trying to stay awake until Kurt came back. He thought it would be a little rude if he were completely asleep by the time Kurt returned, without even saying goodnight or thanking him again for letting him stay.

What he didn't know was that Kurt had already come back from getting some pillows and blankets out of the hall closet. He'd been standing in his bedroom doorway, unbeknownst to Blaine, who couldn't see him. He'd heard every single word.

xxx

Even after he heard Blaine hang up the phone, Kurt still found himself completely unable to move from the doorway and step into the room. His heart had started beating at a completely irregular pace the second he'd heard Blaine say those crucial words. Blaine had actually said _soul mate_.

And yes, Blaine seemed to have apprehensions about being unblinded by another boy, but Kurt was actually kind of happy that he'd overheard that. Now that he knew that, he would do everything in his power to put Blaine at ease with their relationship. He wanted to make this _perfect _for Blaine, so that when the crucial moment came, they'd be able to give each other sight with no regrets or doubts.

Finally he managed to step over the threshold and enter his room again, where he promptly knelt on the floor and began arranging a makeshift bed for himself with the blankets and pillows he'd just retrieved.

"Did you get ahold of anyone?" he asked, keeping his voice nonchalant.

"Yeah," Blaine told him. "That was Courtney. She's basically my sister-in-law. She and Cooper have been together for a while now; they're staying with us for a couple days."

Kurt smiled. "That's nice." He was silent for a second as he crawled under the blanket he'd just spread out on the floor. "So…you're the only person in your family who's still blind, too?"

"I am, but I don't really think about it much anymore," Blaine admitted. "That's probably just because Coop doesn't live at home anymore, though. Now that he and Courtney are visiting, there are four of them who have their sight, including my parents, and I kind of feel like the odd one out."

Kurt nodded, mostly to himself. "That's what it's like for me. Finn and Rachel unblinded each other not too long after our two families moved in together. I'm the only one. I…I love my family, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I feel just as vulnerable here at home as I do at school."

Blaine didn't say anything for a long time. After a while, Kurt was starting to wonder if he'd suddenly fallen asleep.

But then he heard Blaine stand up from the bed. It sounded like he was moving to lie on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked warily.

"I'm sleeping on the floor," Blaine insisted. "You should have your bed."

Kurt was somewhat taken aback by Blaine's sudden display of hospitality. "Blaine, you're my guest, I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor. Get in the bed."

"Would you just _listen _to yourself?" Blaine commanded gently. "Kurt, you give _so _much. Like I said before, you're sweet and you're selfless and that's amazing, but _you _deserve to be treated that way, too, and somehow I get the feeling that you usually aren't."

Kurt considered this. It didn't take him long to realize that Blaine was absolutely right. He gave and gave and gave and nobody ever seemed interested in returning his hospitality. Even his friends from glee club sometimes unintentionally took Kurt's selflessness for granted.

"You're right, I'm not." For some reason, when he spoke, his voice was broken.

"Then I guess there's a first time for everything. I'm going to be the first person to return your kindness. Go sleep in your bed."

"Blaine, that's very sweet of you, but you don't need—"

"Yes, I do. It's time someone started giving back." He heard Blaine crawling under the blankets on the floor a short distance away from him and feeling around for an extra pillow for a few seconds before he finally found one and pulled it under his head. "I honestly don't mind, Kurt. I can sleep down here. It actually feels pretty good on my back."

Kurt pulled his end of the blankets over himself. "I'm staying here."

"So am I," Blaine countered.

There was silence for a moment. When Kurt spoke, his voice was small.

"Blaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks anyway."

"'s no problem. Just thought I'd be nice and offer. The bed will be open all night if you realize you can't fall asleep down here or something."

"I'll be fine," Kurt reassured him. "Besides, this way it's fair, right?"

"I guess," Blaine said. His voice suddenly grew softer after a fleeting pause. "Goodnight, Kurt."

"'Night, Blaine," Kurt whispered.

He didn't even try to fall asleep right away. Blaine seemed to be out in a matter of minutes, judging from the sound of his slow, steady breathing. Kurt stayed awake and listened.

The inexplicable ache he'd felt for Blaine earlier had returned. Here they were, lying so close – probably just a few feet apart, although Kurt couldn't see for sure – and yet so far at the same time. Kurt wanted to snuggle against Blaine's side and feel the warmth of the other boy's body against him. He already felt so safe and protected just _being _with Blaine; he couldn't imagine how incredible it would feel to be physically close to him.

But he didn't want to do that, even now that he knew how Blaine felt about him, because the last thing he wanted to do was interrupt the love of his life from his peaceful slumber. Kurt wasn't sure how heavy a sleeper Blaine was and he didn't want to risk accidentally waking him up if he made a move to try and cuddle.

He stayed put and let the sound of Blaine's even breathing eventually lull him to sleep.

xxx

The last time Blaine had slept on the floor, he'd been six years old. When he was younger, every time he used to have a bad dream, he would drag his pillow down the hall to Cooper's room and fall asleep on his brother's floor. He never woke Cooper up to tell him, but for some reason just knowing that his big brother was close by made it a lot easier for him to go back to sleep.

But something about sleeping on Kurt's floor was different. It wasn't that he _couldn't _sleep – he'd actually fallen asleep relatively quickly – but rather that he couldn't _stay _asleep. He kept drifting in and out of sleep, randomly waking up every so often for about half an hour or so before he finally managed to slip back into unconsciousness.

The third time he woke up, he realized with sudden pleasant surprise that he was lying right up against something soft. And warm. And breathing.

It took him a few drowsy moments to realize that he must have rolled right into Kurt in his sleep. Luckily for him, Kurt seemed to be out cold. Either that, or he was wide awake but for some reason not questioning why Blaine was suddenly practically spooning against him.

Blaine was still delirious from sleep and thus probably shouldn't have been trying to make any rational decisions, but he liked his sudden change in position and decided to see if he could take it just a little bit further. He turned around and fitted himself against Kurt, making himself the little spoon.

Kurt made a soft little sighing noise in his sleep but didn't wake up. Blaine didn't want to risk it, so he decided he wouldn't do anything else to try and increase their proximity even more.

He tried to fall back asleep, but suddenly he felt something pulling on him and had to bite back a gasp. He carefully felt along whatever it was that had constricted around his torso and realized that it was Kurt's arm. Kurt had unconsciously pulled Blaine closer to him in his sleep.

Well, that was kind of nice.

Blaine's hand was still on Kurt's arm and for some reason he sleepily noticed that it was covered in soft fabric. Why in the world was Kurt wearing long sleeves? It had been inexplicably warm lately despite the fact that the winter months were drawing nearer and nearer.

He made a mental note to ask Kurt about that some other time. Right now, he was going to try and sleep through the rest of the night without waking up again.

And he did, because something about being close to Kurt like this was comforting. Blaine could get used to this.

xxx

When Kurt woke up the next morning, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that his arm was still curled around Blaine, holding him close.

He'd woken up the previous night when Blaine had accidentally rolled into him and snuggled against him in his sleep. Kurt had in turn decided that this was his chance to cuddle with Blaine like he'd wanted to do so badly before, so he'd draped his arm over the other boy and pulled him closer, trying to make the movement seem as unconscious as possible. It seemed that his strategy had worked, because Blaine hadn't said anything about it.

"Kurt?" a tiny, sleepy voice asked hesitantly.

Kurt smiled to himself. He may not have been able to see, but Blaine sounded absolutely adorable.

"Hi there," he said softly, making no move to unwind his arms from around Blaine. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good," Blaine murmured. He certainly seemed more than happy to remain in Kurt's embrace. "You?"

"Me too," Kurt whispered with a tired smile.

Neither of them took the initiative to move. Blaine didn't seem uncomfortable with their arrangement at all, and Kurt knew that he himself wasn't, either. It seemed completely natural for them to be like this, despite the fact that they'd only known each other for a day. They were meant to be close like this.

"This is nice," Blaine said quietly after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"What's nice?" Kurt had a pretty good idea of what Blaine meant, but he wanted to hear him say it.

"J-just being like this. With you." Blaine almost seemed nervous to so blatantly admit his feelings like this, but Kurt found his hesitation charming. "I like this. You're very comfortable." He laughed a little bit.

Kurt thought back to the phone conversation he'd overheard the previous night, when he'd accidentally heard Blaine admit that he was still getting used to the idea of a man being his soul mate. Kurt personally had never had an issue with the possibility of that happening, and now that it appeared to be true for him he was unbelievably happy, but he knew there were some people who seemed to have a major problem with it. He'd heard the kinds of things people at school said about Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez, who were most definitely in love but had yet to unblind each other. _Those bitches are so delusional_, they said. _It must be some kind of defect in the magic. They're just looking for attention_.

Well, those were the same people who bullied Kurt for the way he sounded, so he had never particularly cared for their opinion. In any case, he knew Blaine probably wasn't the type to be downright cruel about members of the same gender unblinding each other, like the people at school were, but he also knew that some people could be uncomfortable with the idea. He wanted to do everything in his power to make Blaine comfortable and put him at ease.

"I'm glad," he responded after a few seconds of considering all this. He hoped Blaine could hear the smile in his voice. "I want you to be happy, Blaine."

"This makes me happy," Blaine confessed, and he seemed to be smiling as well. There was a fleeting hesitation, then: "_You _make me happy."

Kurt had opened his mouth to respond, but Blaine wasn't done. "Just knowing you for the short amount of time that I have, you've already made me feel better about myself than I have in a long time. Like I was saying last night, it's kind of hard to explain, but…I really like you, Kurt. And I want to see you someday."

He exhaled deeply. "Sorry if that kinda freaked you out, but I figured you deserve to know how I feel."

"It didn't freak me out," Kurt assured him. "I want to see you too, Blaine. And forgive me if I'm going out on a limb here, but I think…we might be able to make that happen. With each other."

Blaine drew in a shaky breath before he responded. "I think we can make that happen, too."

Kurt's heart was racing by this point. He knew Blaine could probably feel it, since his chest was pressed right up against Blaine's back, but he was too far gone now. Very carefully, he moved his hand up Blaine's back toward his head.

"There's only one way to find out," he whispered.

His fingers found the knot of Blaine's blindfold at the back of his head and brushed the soft fabric with the lightest touch. It was enough to send a shiver down Blaine's spine, so powerful that it made him tremble against Kurt.

Kurt knew that Blaine knew that if Kurt gave that knot even the slightest tug, Blaine's blindfold would fall away and he would see.

"Kurt. Wait."

Kurt immediately moved his hand away when he heard the anxiety in Blaine's voice. "I…I'm sorry," he said softly. "I guess I was getting ahead of myself a little bit."

"No, no, don't be sorry," Blaine told him. "It's just…I think we should wait."

Kurt nodded understandingly. "You're absolutely right. I'm okay with that."

"Okay," Blaine said. "Because first of all, I want the first thing I see to be _you _and not your bedroom floor. And second…I was actually just talking to Courtney about this when I called home last night. She told me that if you wait a while and really get to know the person, then it makes it all the more special when you unblind each other."

"Good idea," Kurt agreed. "But I _am _glad that we kind of got the elephant out of the room. It's one of those things that's kinda hard to bring up, y'know? 'Hey, I think you might be my soul mate.'"

"I don't _think _you are." Blaine's voice was quiet but steadfast. "I _know _you are."

They lay there for a little while longer, perfectly content to just snuggle and revel in their togetherness, but eventually they decided it was probably time to get up and join the real world. After all, they knew that eventually they would commit to each other for life by giving the other his sight, but for now life had to continue as normal.

xxx

When Cooper came to pick him up later that morning, Blaine was at the point where he didn't want to leave.

He tried to console himself by thinking of how tomorrow he would start public school and he'd get to be with Kurt all the time. Maybe they could even hang out together after school – at least Blaine hoped they would be able to do so; he wasn't sure what to expect as far as homework and whatnot. He knew he'd probably have to compromise some time with the Warblers in order to spend time with Kurt, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Surely the rest of the guys in the group would understand when he told them he'd finally found _the one _– especially Sebastian. Blaine was already dreading the inevitable I-told-you-so taunts that Sebastian would dish out when he found out that Blaine's soul mate was a boy.

It would all be worth it, though. Just as long as he had Kurt.

They shared a lingering hug in the front hallway before Blaine left with Cooper, neither of them having the heart to let go.

"Thanks again for letting me stay over," Blaine murmured, thoroughly enjoying the way it felt to hold Kurt close to him like this.

"No problem," Kurt said with a soft smile in his voice. "Tomorrow…?"

Blaine nodded against Kurt's shoulder. "I'll find you at school somehow. I'm going to be completely lost without you there to guide me." He laughed.

"The blind leading the blind," Kurt giggled in agreement. He pulled back from the hug just slightly but kept his hands on Blaine's shoulders. "Actually, y'know what? You don't need to try and find me. I'll have Finn come over and pick you up. He drives us every day, it's no big deal?"

Blaine shrugged, secretly thrilled to have an excuse to spend even more time with Kurt. "I'm okay with that. I'll call you tonight and give him the address."

"Sounds good." There was that smile in Kurt's voice again. He pulled Blaine in for another quick but sweet hug. "Bye, Blaine."

Blaine smiled. "Bye, Kurt."

Kurt led him to the door and handed him over to Cooper, who had opted to wait on the front porch in order to give the two boys a few minutes to say goodbye in private. Blaine felt his brother take him by the arm and guide him down the front steps toward his car.

There was an expectant smile in Cooper's voice as they got in the car and fastened their seatbelts. "Well?"

Blaine couldn't help but letting a huge smile of his own spread over his face.

"He's the one, Coop," he said happily. "I found my soul mate."

**Next up: Blaine starts school, gets to know the rest of the kids in New Directions, and gets a surprising reaction when he tells Sebastian and the rest of the Warblers about Kurt.**

**As usual, reviews make me very happy. Also, check out my Chris Colfer birthday project if you haven't already (the link to the blog is in my profile). If you read Lessons in Being a Man and see my author's notes there, you're probably sick of me talking about it, but I really want to make this amazing for him. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Gah, sorry again for the late update.**** Once I get all my ducks in a row for Project 527, I'll be able to do a lot more writing/updating, so no worries! Also, if the formatting in this is screwed up, it's because the document editor thingy is being obnoxious, so sorry if anything looks weird. Song in this is Stop and Stare by OneRepublic. Yes, the title is supposed to be ironic. **

Chapter 4

There were certain instances where Blaine really wished he had his sight. His first day at public high school was one of them.

"How do I look?" he asked his brother warily, carefully turning around to show all angles of the first-day-of-school outfit Courtney had helped him pick out. She had reassured him that he would look amazing in it, and Blaine believed her, but he trusted his brother's opinion more than anyone else's. Except maybe Kurt's, but that was another story.

"Very dapper," Cooper told him approvingly. "Very handsome. If only Kurt could see you."

Blaine bit his lip. "Well, when he _does _see me, I want to make sure I look good. I'm going to be the very first thing he ever sees, and _I _don't even know what I look like. I don't want him to be disappointed."

"He won't be," Cooper assured him. "Trust me. When the time comes, I swear, you won't even be thinking about what _you _look like. You'll just be so awestruck by what the other person looks like – in your case, Kurt. It's incredible to experience that."

He clapped Blaine on the shoulder. There was a smile in his voice as he continued. "But don't stress yourself out about that now. Today's a big day for you, bud."

Blaine smiled. "Well, he and Finn should be here any minute. Then the adventure _really _begins."

The second he finished speaking, the doorbell rang loudly. Blaine was so nervous that he almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden sound.

Cooper laughed. "Sounds like they're here." He started guiding Blaine in the direction of the front door. "Good luck, bro."

Blaine heard his brother open the door and was unable to contain a smile when he heard Kurt's distinctive voice greeting him with a hint of hopefulness. He must have heard the door opening. "Blaine?"

Blaine obviously couldn't see anything, but he heard another voice, one that was unfamiliar, speak up. "I'm finally meeting the famous Blaine Anderson. I'm Finn, I don't think we've met yet."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Cooper said politely. "I'm Cooper, I'm Blaine's brother. He's really excited for today, just to warn you guys."

"I'm right here," Blaine grumbled to his brother. He tried to make his voice sound friendlier as he greeted Finn and Kurt. "Hi, Kurt. Nice to meet you, Finn. Thanks so much for picking me up, it really makes this a lot easier."

"It's no problem. Kurt said he wanted to do anything he could to make your first day as easy as possible," Finn said nonchalantly.

"Finn!" Kurt hissed, and Blaine smiled to himself. He loved knowing how flustered Kurt got whenever someone in his family mentioned his devotion to Blaine.

"It's okay, bro. He's smiling," Finn told Kurt before acknowledging Blaine. "You ready to go?"

Blaine nodded eagerly, knowing Finn could see.

Cooper helped him step out the door and onto the front porch. "I'm picking you up, right?"

"I'm staying after school for glee club," Blaine explained. "Finn can take me and Kurt home."

"You say that as if you already live together," Finn laughed. Blaine had the feeling that he and Cooper would get along very well. "But yeah, that's no problem. I don't mind. Kurt, grab onto Blaine and I'll help you guys get to the car."

"I can't see him," Kurt told him. "Cooper, can you…?"

"One step ahead of you." After his brother spoke, Blaine felt his own hand being pulled slightly and placed into Kurt's. "Aww, how cute is that?"

"Coop, _stop_," Blaine groaned, though he was secretly thrilled to feel his skin in contact with Kurt's once again. He didn't even care that he couldn't see what the other boy looked like; this was completely different from when his parents or Cooper or Courtney or anyone else took his hand to guide him. Whenever Kurt touched him, sparks jolted from the tips of his fingers through his entire body. It was not an unpleasant feeling.

"You'll be thanking me for this someday," Cooper called after him as Finn, who was holding onto Kurt's other hand, began leading the two of them toward wherever he must have parked his car. "See you later!"

Their little human train came to a stop not long after they'd started walking. Blaine heard the sound of a car door opening. "I assume you two want to sit by each other, correct?" Finn asked.

Finn knew. He was completely understanding of the fact that Blaine needed to be close to Kurt despite the fact that they couldn't see each other, even if he may not have known it.

"Correct," Kurt told him. "I mean, if Blaine—"

"Of course I want to sit by you," Blaine told him. His voice was just a little sweeter than it probably should have been.

"Figures. Go ahead and get in the back, then," Finn told them, and Blaine blindly felt his way into the backseat of the car with a little bit of help from Kurt.

The ride to school didn't take very long. Blaine managed to calm his fluttering nerves by keeping up casual small talk the entire time with Kurt and Finn, who told him all about what to expect when they arrived. Blaine, fortunately, had managed to get himself placed in all the same classes as Kurt, so at least he would never be alone.

Plus, he thought, this would give him ample opportunity to possibly do something about the ignorant assholes that made Kurt's life hell every single day. He didn't exactly know what he could do just yet, but he was going to do something. Anything to protect the love of his life.

xxx

Kurt thought his heart was about to beat right out of his chest all morning. It was funny, he thought, that just being _near _Blaine could do this to him. Whether they were walking through the halls together – Kurt was familiar enough with the building by now that he could find his way relatively easily, so Blaine clung to his hand for guidance – or simply sitting beside each other in class, Blaine's mere proximity and Kurt's extreme awareness of it made his heart race wildly.

It was almost the second to last period of the day, and Kurt was at his locker gathering his books while Blaine waited faithfully by his side. He ran his fingers over the raised dots on the spines, trying to concentrate on reading the titles by touch so he could get what he needed and go, but once again it was hard to concentrate.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked all of a sudden.

Kurt's head snapped up and he turned in the direction of Blaine's voice. "What? Yes, I'm fine…why do you ask?"

"I don't know," Blaine admitted. "You seem…flustered. Something like that. I don't know."

Kurt finally managed to locate the book he'd been searching for. It was times like this when his blindness was such an inconvenience. He took the book out of his locker and closed the door before taking Blaine's hand. "I don't know how you can tell. You can't even see me."

"Yeah, but I _know _you," Blaine told him. "I can tell from the way you've been talking really fast, almost like you're nervous. Plus your hand is kind of clammy and sweaty."

Kurt made to pull his hand away from Blaine's. "Oh, that's disgusting, I'm sorry—"

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand tighter the second he felt him try and pull away. "No, don't be," he assured Kurt as they walked. "I'm…I'm attuned to you, I guess. Is that weird? Oh, god, that's probably so weird, I—"

"_Blaine_," Kurt laughed, pulling them to a stop in the middle of the hallway. He never let go of Blaine's hand. "It's not weird. If we…if we really are, y'know…," his voice grew quieter all of a sudden, "destined to unblind each other, then this must be how it works. We're attuned to each other, like you said."

"Wait a second, _what _did I just hear? Did Kurt Hummel just say that _she _found _her _soul mate?"

The sudden voice that had just spoken was the last thing Kurt wanted to hear. His body instinctively tensed with fear and his heart started racing yet again – but this was a completely different feeling than before, when the palpitations had been courtesy of Blaine. This was raw adrenaline, his body's natural fight-or-flight response to hearing this particular voice.

"Dave Karofsky," he said, trying to keep his voice even. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well lucky for you, princess, you're right by my locker. I should be asking _you _the same thing."

"Hey!" Blaine's voice came out of nowhere; Kurt instinctively clutched his hand tighter. "Don't talk to him like that, okay? Kurt's more of a man than you will _ever _be."

"Oh, and who's this? You don't sound familiar. This your _lover_, Hummel?"

Kurt really wasn't sure what to say. "I…"

"It's none of your business who I am. Listen, you can't see me and I can't see you, so quite frankly this is a waste of time. But if you _ever _say something like that about Kurt again…let's just say you'll be sorry."

Kurt felt a chill go down his spine at Blaine's words. It was a good kind of chill – not unlike the sensation he'd experienced when he'd heard Blaine sing for the first time. There was just something about it that instantly made him feel safer, for whatever reason.

"Come on, Kurt," Blaine continued after a fleeting silence had passed. "We don't need to waste our time here anymore."

The sound of Dave's mocking laughter followed them. "Hey, wait'll everyone hears about this," he called. "Kurt Hummel's soul mate is a _boy_. Shit, this is like the Brittany and Santana thing all over again."

"Brittany and Santana?" Blaine asked quietly, knowing they were probably a safe distance away by now.

"You'll meet them in glee club later," Kurt explained. "They're both girls, and they know they're soul mates but they haven't unblinded each other yet. Some people here make their lives hell for it."

He wasn't sure why, but his voice broke as he finished speaking. Maybe it was because he already knew that he and Blaine would get the same kind of hell. Suddenly he felt awful for the fact that Blaine was even here at this school in the first place – he'd come here to be with Kurt, but he would have to suffer because of his decision. It didn't seem fair.

"I don't get it," Blaine said as they kept walking toward their class. "Why do we even have to wear these dumb blindfolds, anyway? It's not like people are any nicer because of them. Exhibit A: the people who bully Brittany and Santana. Exhibit B: that asshole back there."

"Oh, Dave Karofsky fits into the first category, too," Kurt said with a humorless chuckle. "He thinks it's absolute bullshit that two boys or two girls can unblind each other. He's convinced there's some kind of defect in the magic."

"Then we prove him wrong," Blaine said simply. "When we're ready, you and I are going to give each other sight, and it's going to be _beautiful_. And whenever that Karofsky jerk gets unblinded, he'll finally be able to see that what we have is real l—"

The bell rang just then, signaling the start of class. Kurt froze in the middle of the hallway, pulling Blaine to a stop, suddenly unable to care about the fact that they were late.

"Real what, Blaine?"

Blaine's tone shifted to one of hasty nervousness. "Oh, no, never mind. I—"

"Blaine," Kurt said softly. He placed his other hand over Blaine's, so that he was holding it in both of his own hands. "Part of this whole soul mates thing is that you can tell me anything and I won't judge you, okay? Please just tell me what you were about to say."

His gentle tone must have worked, because Blaine gave a sigh of surrender. "Real love."

Kurt had known all along that that's what Blaine had wanted to say. Still, hearing him say that word out loud gave Kurt's heart an unimaginable thrill.

"That's what we have, Blaine," he said after a brief moment. "Real love. I know we're still getting to know each other, but it's there. It's always been there, even before we met, and it always will be there."

Kurt carefully slipped his hands away from Blaine's and slowly moved them up his arms to his shoulders. He rubbed Blaine's shoulders reassuringly as he continued.

"And…I'll admit I heard you talking on the phone to Courtney when you were over at my house for the first time last week," he said cautiously. "I know this is going to take some getting used to for you, but I want to do everything I can to make you comfortable, okay?"

Blaine laughed. "You are _amazing_," he murmured. His voice seemed loud in the suddenly empty hallway; everyone else was in class.

"And I'm definitely not uncomfortable with this," he continued. "I'm meant to be with you, Kurt. We've finally found each other. And…and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Kurt smiled and gave his shoulders one more squeeze. "Neither would I."

xxx

Later that afternoon, Blaine stood proudly in front of the glee club that couldn't see him (with the exception of Mr. Schue, Finn, and Rachel). As had been the case throughout the earlier part of the day, he held onto Kurt's hand.

"Fellow glee clubbers, I would like to introduce you to someone very special to me," he heard Kurt say with what sounded like a warm smile in his voice. "This is Blaine Anderson. We met at the talent show last week."

He gave Blaine's hand a happy little squeeze. Blaine suddenly realized that it was his turn to say something, but as usual, the warm familiarity of Kurt's hand in his own made his brain short-circuit.

"It's really great to be here," he told his new companions. "Today was my first day at public school and it's great so far…I have all my classes with Kurt so he's helping me out, he's been great."

As he finished talking, he found himself wishing the floor could open up and swallow him. He wasn't sure what was worse – his incessant rambling or the fact that his adjective of choice today seemed to be "great." _Really, Blaine?__ They're going to think you don't know any other words_.

Thankfully, though, they hadn't noticed his complete lack of coherency – either that, or they were being polite and not pointing it out.

"Hey, you were the guy who sang with that a capella group, right?" an unfamiliar male voice asked. "You guys sounded awesome."

"Yeah, that was me," Blaine told him. "It's just a group I got together with some of my friends. Nothing special, really."

Kurt's gorgeous-sounding smile was evident in his voice yet again. "It's kind of Puck's dream to be in an a capella group. Not that he would ever admit it in public, that is."

"Hey!" the guy named Puck shot back jokingly. "I just think they got a cool sound, okay?"

"I do, too," some girl agreed. It sounded like she was smiling. "Blaine, you should sing something for us."

Kurt seemed to like this idea as well. "_Great _idea, Tina. What do you think, Blaine?"

"I'd love to," Blaine said with a smile. "Any song requests?"

"Whatever _you _want to sing," Kurt told him, perhaps a little bit too flirtatiously, because there was a blank silence that filled the room for a second after he finished talking."

Another unfamiliar male voice finally broke the silence. "Wait, so are you guys…"

Kurt sounded very pleased with himself. "Yes, Mike. We are." He punctuated the statement by letting go of Blaine's hand, opting to curl his arm around Blaine's waist instead. Kurt pulled him closer and Blaine forgot how to breathe.

On another note, though, he liked the fact that Kurt was using each person's name whenever he responded to them. He must have known that it would make it easier for Blaine to match voices to names.

"I was just wondering. You guys are kind of like me and Tina when we first met," Mike said. "It's cool, though. Good for you."

"I'm happier than I've ever been in my life now that I've met Kurt," Blaine said in response to Mike, but addressed the whole group. "But before we met, I was kind of…I don't know. I was stuck in a rut, going nowhere with my life, but I was too narrow-minded and stubborn to try and find a way out. And now it's like…he's changed me so much in the short time that I've known him, and definitely for the better."

Kurt, who still had his arm looped around Blaine's waist, squeezed him closer for a second before letting go. "I'll get out of the way so you can have the spotlight," he whispered, and Blaine heard him walking toward the chairs and taking a seat.

"So I've kind of got a song that describes what this experience has been like for me," he continued. "I know the lyrics might be a bit ironic considering the fact that most of us here are still blind, but bear with me. The rest of it pretty much applies to me, so I hope you guys enjoy."

He swallowed and breathed in deeply through his nose, reflecting silently for a moment on the lyrics he was about to sing. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth and began.

"This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us

It's time to make our move, I'm shaking off the rust

I've got my heart set on anywhere but here

I'm staring down myself, counting up the years

Steady hands, just take the wheel

And every glance is killing me

Time to make one last appeal for the life I lead."

He knew it was strange, considering that the majority of them couldn't see, but he got the feeling that he had the full attention of every single person in that room. It gave him the confidence he needed to continue into the chorus.

"Stop and stare

I think I'm moving but I go nowhere

Yeah I know that everyone gets scared

But I've become what I can't be, oh

Stop and stare

You start to wonder why you're here not there

And you'd give anything to get what's fair

But fair ain't what you really need

Oh, can you see what I see?"

As he began the second verse, Blaine found himself blinking behind his blindfold to restrain his tears. He hadn't expected to connect with this song on such a deep level, but as he sang, he realized that it made perfect sense to him. He was leaving behind his old beliefs and everything he knew…sacrificing a part of himself to be with Kurt, and he didn't mind at all, but it was scary to him. His absolute favorite part about music was the way it allowed for him to make such strong personal connections like this.

"They're trying to come back, all my senses push

Untie the weight bags, I never thought I could...

Steady feet, don't fail me now

Gonna run till you can't walk

Something pulls my focus out

And I'm standing down...

Stop and stare

I think I'm moving but I go nowhere

Yeah I know that everyone gets scared

But I've become what I can't be, oh

Stop and stare

You start to wonder why you're here not there

And you'd give anything to get what's fair

But fair ain't what you really need

Oh, you don't need…"

His voice was quieter as he closed out the song; his eyes were still wet with tears. He realized that it was because of Kurt – this song was allowing him to express his conflicting but incredible feelings publicly for the first time, and he couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion because of it. He only hoped that Kurt was loving it, too.

"What you need, what you need...

Stop and stare

I think I'm moving but I go nowhere

Yeah I know that everyone gets scared

But I've become what I can't be

Oh, do you see what I see?"

After letting go of the final note, Blaine bowed his head humbly as an immediate wave of cheers washed over him. He heard Kurt call out an encouraging "Go Blaine!" which instantly put both a smile and a burning blush on his face. It made him so happy to hear Kurt sounding so proud of him.

Rachel got up and helped him find his way to a seat between her and Kurt, and the rest of the rehearsal was spent singing through a few new numbers. As Blaine read the unfamiliar sheet music with his fingers and tried his best to carry his part, he found himself getting incredibly distracted. He could hear Kurt's fascinating voice easily from where he stood, and it took all his strength not to stop singing and just listen.

When rehearsal was over, Blaine gathered his things and left with Kurt and Finn, who was driving them all home. Finn congratulated Blaine on a job well done with his first solo as he helped the blind boys out to the car, but Kurt didn't say a word. Blaine, as usual, was hyperaware of Kurt's proximity; their shoulders brushed as they slid into the backseat of Finn's car and his heart immediately leapt into overdrive.

"You guys sure are chatty today," Finn joked about five minutes into the silent drive. "Everything okay?"

They both responded at the same time, Kurt with "I'm fine, just tired," and Blaine with "It was a long day." Both of them giggled a little bit at the timing of their responses, then lapsed back into comfortable silence again. It was nowhere near awkward, but rather peaceful.

"We're at your house, Blaine," Finn announced finally. "Do you need me to help you get to the door, or are you okay?"

"I can manage," Blaine told him. "I'm pretty familiar with my own house and yard. Thanks, though."

He heard Kurt unbuckle his seatbelt. "I'll walk you to the door."

Blaine bit his bottom lip to hide a smile. Kurt was literally the sweetest person he'd ever met – who else would get out of the car just to walk him fifteen feet to his front porch, especially when he was unfamiliar with the layout of Blaine's front yard?

Still, there was no way he'd turn down an opportunity to spend more time with Kurt, even if it was only a few seconds. He fumbled around with the door handle for a moment before he finally managed to get it open, then called a thankful goodbye to Finn as he climbed out of the car with Kurt close behind.

He took Kurt's hand and began making the familiar trek from the driveway to the front porch. It wasn't until they were standing in front of the door that Kurt finally spoke.

"I…I'm sorry for being so quiet on the ride over here," he said. His voice was soft and sounded uncharacteristically frail. "B-but I didn't want to say this in front of Finn or anyone else. I want it to be just between you and me."

Blaine smiled to himself as he realized Kurt was still holding onto his hand. The other boy continued carefully, as if he were afraid of how Blaine would respond.

"I know I told you earlier that I overheard what you were saying to Courtney on the phone last week at my house," he began. "About how you weren't sure how to feel about…me. About us, and what we are. And I swore to myself when I heard you say that that I would do everything in my power to make you as comfortable as possible with this relationship. This attraction between us isn't something that either of us have the power to change, and I'll admit that even if I _could _change it, I wouldn't. I love the way you make me feel, Blaine. I wouldn't give this up for anything.

"And…and hearing you sing that song in glee club today made me realize just how crazy this must have been for you. I mean, you'd never really given much thought to the fact that two men could be soul mates, and then _bam_! Here I am. I couldn't even imagine how confused you must have been, but that changed when I heard you sing today. And…I guess what I want to say is that I'm proud of you, Blaine. When you were singing, I was listening to all the emotion you put into the lyrics and I realized that you really _have _become what you can't be…you're giving up beliefs you used to have about this crazy magic that blinds us all. But you're leaving all that behind and it's probably terrifying for you to do this, but you're taking a chance. You're taking a chance for _me_. And that…that means _so _ much to me, Blaine. Just the fact that you're willing to open your heart and mind to the fact that we _will _give each other sight someday. Nobody has ever done something like this for me before."

As he finished speaking, his voice was soft but powerful in its emotion. His words made Blaine tremble with their sheer force. Blaine was more tempted than ever to blindly reach out for Kurt's face, pull him closer, and kiss his lips with all the love he could never express in words.

But he couldn't do that. Kurt deserved a more romantic first kiss than that. Also, Kurt deserved privacy, which couldn't be very well achieved with Finn sitting in the driveway and the possibility that someone inside the house could open the front door and find them on the porch at any given moment.

There were so many things racing through his mind, so many things he wanted to say. _I need to be with you. Just you. I need to be near you and I need for nothing to interrupt us_.

But of course, what actually came out of his mouth was, "C-can you stay?"

Kurt sounded a little confused. "I'm sorry?"

Blaine shook his head. "I mean, can you stay over for a little bit? Sorry if I'm coming on a little strong here, but I kind of don't want to be away from you right now."

When Kurt spoke again, his voice was soft and there was a hint of Blaine's favorite smile.

"I'd love to."

xxx

The first thing Kurt always noticed when he went into someone's house for the first time was the smell. He knew it was a result of his other four senses being ultrasensitive after being sightless all his life, but he still thought it was interesting.

Blaine's house smelled like coffee and lemon-scented air freshener. As Blaine led him inside, Kurt could hear the sound of some sporting event blaring from the television and a woman talking on the phone off in the distance further away.

"Blaine!" There was Cooper's voice; Kurt heard him stand up from wherever he'd been sitting and come to the door to greet them. "Hey there, Kurt, didja take care of my little brother on his first day of school?"

Blaine sounded exasperated, but Kurt could tell he was smiling. "For God's sake, Coop, I'm not five."

"I did," Kurt reassured Cooper as if Blaine hadn't even spoken. He'd taken a liking to Blaine's older brother. For all his good-natured teasing, Kurt knew he really cared about Blaine. "I think he'll be just fine in public school."

"Awesome. I can't wait to hear all about it," Cooper told them. "Mom's actually ordering some pizza now…you want to stay and have dinner with us, Kurt?"

Kurt smiled graciously. "As long as I wouldn't be getting in the way of anything, then sure. I would love that."

Blaine spoke next, and his voice was suddenly thick with surprise. "Wait, pizza? Isn't it a little early for dinner? Why is she ordering it now?"

"It's after five," Cooper explained. "Court's out shopping, she'll be back soon, and by the time Dad gets home from work, the pizza will be here and we can eat. You really lost track of time, didn't you?"

"I guess so," Blaine admitted. "Glee club rehearsal was really fun today. Those two hours must have gone by fast."

"At the risk of sounding cliché, time flies when you're having fun." Kurt smiled and gave Blaine's hand a lingering squeeze. His heart fluttered when Blaine squeezed back.

He must have gotten a little flustered and Cooper must have noticed, because Blaine's brother was suddenly anxious to get out of their way. "Well, I'll leave you guys alone. You gonna be upstairs?"

"Yeah," Blaine told him. "Y'know, more privacy."

_Privacy_. The word had never sounded sweeter to Kurt.

"All right, I'll be down here if you need me," Cooper told them. Before he had even finished speaking, Blaine was already tugging on his hand and leading him upstairs.

Once again, Kurt thought his heart was about to leap right through his chest, but that was nothing new. The thought of actually being alone with Blaine thrilled him, even if all they did was talk. Even if they _didn't _talk. As long as he could feel Blaine near him, he would have all he needed.

He never thought he could be so happy. After feeling alone and mistreated for so long at school, his future with Blaine was the light at the end of the tunnel – ironic, considering he'd never even seen light, but no matter. He was _happy_. He never imagined those words would be so easy to think. _I'm happy_.

He was so happy that it seemed like the scars on his arms could disappear just like that. Kurt knew that was impossible – it would take a long time for them to heal, if they healed at all. Maybe the insides of his arms would always be covered in crisscrossing scars, crosses for him to bear for the rest of his life. He might never physically heal. Emotionally, though, he was off to a pretty good start.

When they made it upstairs, Kurt took a seat on Blaine's bed, shocked at how much it secretly killed him to have to let go of Blaine's hand. He wasn't sure where Blaine went, but a few seconds later he heard some music that Blaine must have turned on. After a soft guitar introduction that lasted for a few seconds, a male voice began drifting through the speakers. Kurt immediately recognized the lyrics. It was the same song Blaine had sung in glee club earlier that afternoon.

Kurt smiled in approval as Blaine flopped down exhaustedly on the bed next to him. "You remembered."

"I remembered what?" Blaine asked, then realized what Kurt must have been talking about. "Oh. That you liked the song?"

"Yes," Kurt told him. "But it sounds better when you sing it."

Blaine didn't respond right away, and in the sudden silence Kurt was suddenly overwhelmed with racing thoughts. He didn't know what was going to happen between the two of them here today, but before anything _could _happen, he had to clear the air.

He let his mind wander once again to the scars on his arms. Knowing full well that Blaine couldn't see, he pushed up one of his sleeves and began tracing his fingers lightly over the scars there.

Blaine deserved to know. He'd poured his heart out so openly to Kurt in front of the entire glee club today. Kurt knew Blaine was ashamed of the things he used to think, and acknowledging them so publicly had been very noble and brave. The least Kurt could do was share some of his own dark regrets with Blaine.

"Blaine," he said, his voice shattering the silence that had fallen between the two of them for a few seconds.

"Yeah?"

"There's, uh…," Kurt wasn't quite sure how to verbalize this, but he had to try. "There's something I need to share with you."

Blaine's voice was so tender and understanding that it made Kurt want to cry. "All right."

"I haven't been completely honest with you," Kurt confessed, "about my experiences with the bullies at school. I haven't told you everything."

Blaine was respectfully silent, waiting for Kurt to continue, which he did.

"Before you came along…I was a wreck. I was so down all the time that I didn't even bother to pick myself back up anymore. At school, I never spoke unless I was spoken to. It was the only thing I could do to stop the bullies. If they didn't hear me talk, they wouldn't know I was around, because they couldn't see. I just tried to make myself as small a target as possible.

"But there were still taunts. They would say the most hurtful things when they _did _hear me speak, and I've already told you about that. What I _didn't _tell you is how I dealt with it outside of school."

He paused for a second and continued in a broken whisper. "Give me your hand."

Blaine's hand found its way into Kurt's. Very carefully, Kurt guided Blaine's hand to his arm and placed it there so he could feel the scars.

He heard a shaky breath hitch in Blaine's throat. "Oh, _Kurt_…"

Blaine had never sounded so broken. Even with those two simple words, Kurt could tell how much this tore him apart.

"It was the only way," Kurt whispered. His voice was so soft he could hardly even hear himself.

Blaine's fingers were still on his arm. He gently stroked up and down the soft skin, as if his touch alone would heal the scars. Kurt found the gesture strangely peaceful. He was suddenly glad he couldn't see Blaine's face, because he knew it had to be wrought with despair and Kurt wouldn't be able to look at that, knowing that _he _had caused it. Neither of them said a word for a very long time.

"You're too beautiful to do this to yourself, Kurt."

Blaine had spoken in the softest of whispers, but it was enough to make Kurt's heart stop. He couldn't breathe.

And Blaine's fingers were still on his arm, gently stroking up and down, trying to make sense of this. Kurt placed his free hand over Blaine's on his arm to hold it there.

"You don't know if I'm beautiful," Kurt murmured. "I could be hideous. Hell, I _am _hideous. I can only imagine what all these damn scars actually _look _like."

But all Blaine said was, "You're _beautiful_, Kurt."

He leaned back so he was lying down on the bed and pulled Kurt down with him. Kurt lay his head on Blaine's chest and took a deep breath to calm himself. For once in his life, he felt safe and protected. In Blaine's arms, nothing could touch him.

He noticed for the first time that Blaine's music was still on. A new song had begun – one that sounded melancholy and somber but had a strange beauty to it at the same time. Blaine was humming along as he absently ran one hand up and down Kurt's back.

"Thank you," Kurt whispered, and he wasn't really sure what he was saying it for, but he felt it needed to be said.

Blaine responded by opening his mouth and actually beginning to sing along with the song.

_Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones_

_And I will try to fix you._

They lay there for a very long time, neither of them saying a word save for Blaine occasionally singing softly along. They didn't need anything else. Right now, after making such a chilling confession and letting Blaine feel the evidence for himself, all Kurt needed was to be held. And Blaine was more than happy to do that for him.

_If you never try, you'll never know just what you're worth_…

He didn't need his sight to know that Kurt was beautiful. Kurt, without a doubt, possessed more beauty than any other human being – male or female – that Blaine had ever known. If only Kurt believed that, he'd be so much happier. There hadn't been too many people in Kurt's life that had truly made him feel beautiful, and Blaine was bound and determined to be the first.

He tightened his arms around Kurt, pulling him closer, and suddenly Kurt felt a slight, gentle pressure at the top of his head. Blaine's lips. Blaine had kissed his temple.

In that moment, for the first time in his life, Kurt Hummel knew what it was like to be loved.

He was so blissfully happy that an unexpected feeling of disappointment set in a few minutes later, when Cooper's voice hollered upstairs. "Guys! Pizza!"

"We'd better head downstairs," Kurt murmured, making no effort to extract himself from Blaine's arms.

Blaine rubbed his hand up and down Kurt's back. "Mmmm. Don't wanna."

"You sound so cute," Kurt told him with a smile. "But we should really get up. I don't want to keep your family waiting…_that's _not a very good first impression."

Blaine reluctantly sat up but managed to keep Kurt in his arms. It felt so natural to be holding him like that – like Kurt was supposed to be there. He seemed to fit perfectly into Blaine's embrace. He realized with sudden awe that this was just one of the many amazing things about the magic that blinded them all. _He's mine. My arms were designed to hold him and only him_.

"Thank you," he said softly. "For telling me."

Kurt's voice was laden with vulnerability as he responded. "I think it's important for us to be honest with each other. I figured you'd find out about those eventually, so I decided I might as well get it over with. If you're destined to spend the rest of your life with me, then you deserved to know."

"I couldn't be happier about the fact that you're _mine_, Kurt. And…as difficult as it was for me, to feel what you did…t-to yourself…in a way, I'm glad I know. It's all the more reason for me to make sure you never forget just how incredible you are."

He gave Kurt a hug that lingered longer than a comforting embrace probably should have lasted. When he pulled away, he made sure Kurt could hear the reassuring smile in his voice. "Come on, let's head downstairs. I can't wait for my family to meet you."

xxx

As it turned out, unfortunately, Blaine's parents quickly caught on to the connection he and Kurt had made. And once they figured it out, he could quickly sense their disapproval.

Kurt wouldn't have been able to pick up on it, because they disguised it remarkably well. But Blaine knew his parents better than Kurt did, and he could tell they weren't crazy about the fact that his soul mate, the one he was destined to spend his life with, was a boy. It was evident in the slight hint of condescension that seeped into his mother's voice when she asked Kurt something about himself (more out of courtesy than of genuine interest, Blaine thought), and in the way his father asked Kurt to pass the basket of breadsticks (without saying "please") when he knew full well that Kurt couldn't see it.

Kurt, of course, tried to play it off nonchalantly and act polite about the whole thing, but Blaine could tell he was somewhat taken aback. "Oh, um…I'm sorry, Mr. Anderson, I can't…"

"Why would you ask him that?" Blaine asked his father in disbelief. "You _can _see. You can see he has a blindfold on and can't tell where anything is."

"My mistake. I apologize, Kurt," his father said, although it certainly didn't seem very sincere. To Blaine, it seemed that he was merely brushing the incident off as if it didn't matter.

Kurt, ever the perfect gentleman, seemed to have accepted his apology. "Oh, you're fine. Don't worry about it."

Blaine was relieved; he thought the whole thing was over, but of course his mother had to open her big mouth to say her piece. "And you don't need to worry either, Kurt. You're such a nice young man and I just know you'll find a sweet girl one day who will give you your sight."

"Blaine's not a girl," Cooper muttered under his breath. Blaine choked and practically spit out the mouthful of water he'd just sipped.

"Excuse me?" Blaine heard his father ask after a few seconds of heavy silence. He didn't even bother checking to see if Blaine was okay.

Blaine coughed involuntarily, trying to get his airways back to normal. There was the gentle touch of a hand on his back and Kurt's soft voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Blaine murmured. "Thank you."

He turned his attention back to what was happening between Cooper and his father. His brother hardly seemed ashamed of what he'd said.

"I said, Blaine's not a girl," Cooper repeated nonchalantly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Blaine heard his father ask, clearly playing dumb.

"You know." Cooper's tone was dark and blunt. "Don't even _play _that game with me, Dad. You know."

"Cooper, don't be silly." Blaine could tell his mother was going right along with his father when she spoke. "Everyone knows that can't happen."

"Yes, it can," Cooper argued defensively. "I know two guys that have done it. It's not impossible. Who's to say that Blaine—"

"Cooper Anderson." His father's voice was thick and stern. "We're not discussing this any longer."

"But why?" Cooper protested. "Blaine's my little brother, and I'm sorry, but I'm going to defend him if I feel the need to—"

"Coop," Blaine interrupted gently. He knew his brother had good intentions, but he wanted to end this now so as not to make Kurt any more uncomfortable than he already was. "It's okay."

"I got your back," was all Cooper said, and an immediate silence lapsed over the group after that.

After a few minutes, Blaine heard Kurt scoot his chair back from the table. "Hey, um, it's probably getting late, I should be going," he said warily. "I've got a lot of homework to get started on."

Blaine promptly stood up. "I'll walk you out."

"Thank you for inviting me to stay," Kurt told Blaine's family politely. "It was nice meeting all of you."

Blaine heard Cooper stand up. "Wait, Kurt, how are you getting home? I'll drive you."

When Kurt responded, Blaine could tell he hadn't really considered that. "Oh. Good point. Sure, if you don't mind…"

They made their way out to Cooper's car in the driveway. Just like when Finn had driven them to school this morning, Blaine climbed in the backseat with Kurt.

"Kurt, um, I just want to apologize on behalf of my parents for what happened at dinner today," Cooper said once he'd backed out of the driveway. "I'm actually really embarrassed. I hope we didn't make you _too _uncomfortable."

Kurt's voice was polite as always when he responded. "Oh, it's fine. I understand that some people aren't very keen on the idea of two boys, y'know…giving each other their sight."

"Yeah, but it wasn't okay for them to treat you like that," Blaine countered. "I know _exactly _what my dad was trying to get at with the whole 'Kurt, pass the bread' thing. And the way they kept going on and on about it, _Jesus_."

He breathed an exasperated sigh and continued. "And if they have a problem with us, then they'd better learn to get over it real quick. We're going to be together, Kurt. It's our destiny. If they don't like it…well, too bad."

"Thank you, Blaine," Kurt said graciously. "You too, Cooper. I guess it was just a bit of a shock because I'd never met anyone who seemed so strongly opposed to that before."

"Neither had I, up until about an hour ago," Blaine admitted. "God, I swear, I had no idea Mom and Dad were like that. I mean, I guess I didn't know because the subject had never come up before…but _still_."

"Y'know what?" Cooper chimed in. "Don't worry about them. Like I said, _I've _got your back. I know Court does, too. We think you two have something really good going on and we're going to support you no matter what."

Blaine smiled appreciatively and reached over to find Kurt's hand, giving it a little squeeze. "Thanks so much, Coop."

The conversation shifted to casual small talk about various topics for the remainder of the drive, and for that Blaine was slightly glad. As much as he loved talking to his brother, he preferred to keep things about his and Kurt's relationship private, just between the two of them. It wasn't a very long drive to Kurt's house, so before long Cooper pulled into the driveway and announced that they had arrived.

Kurt opened the door and got out, thanking Cooper over his shoulder for the ride. Blaine instinctively unbuckled his seatbelt and followed him so they could say goodbye in private after everything that had transpired at Blaine's house.

Kurt took his hand and led him up to the front porch, much like Blaine had done earlier that afternoon at Kurt's house, except this time he knew he couldn't stay. Neither of them said a word and Blaine wrapped Kurt into a hug.

He didn't know what to say. Neither of them did. They held each other for a very long time before Blaine finally spoke.

"Kurt, I…," he sighed, not knowing exactly how to put the thoughts in his head into words, "I still feel awful about what happened at dinner. Especially after you…"

He trailed off, but when Kurt spoke a few seconds later, he seemed to understand that Blaine had been referring to his scars.

"It's okay," he said. His voice sounded thick, almost as if he were about to cry. "I'll heal. Maybe not physically, but emotionally…spiritually…I will. Because I have you."

As he continued, the thickness in his voice seemed to give way to a smile. That made Blaine unbelievably happy.

"And don't worry about your family," he said. "We'll prove them wrong. Someday your parents will see us both without our blindfolds, and they'll _know_."

"I can't wait for that day," Blaine admitted breathlessly.

"I can't either." Kurt was still smiling. "Goodnight, Blaine."

Blaine felt something touch his face. Kurt's hand. A few second later, there was a careful press of lips to his cheek. Blaine trembled, wondering if it were possible for him to melt into a puddle right here on Kurt's front porch.

He heard the doorknob turn and the door open, then Kurt stepped inside. The door closed and Blaine was abruptly alone.

xxx

When they returned home, Blaine had barely gotten his foot in the door before he heard his mother's voice.

"Oh, well, this is perfect timing, because he and Cooper just got home," she said to someone Blaine couldn't see, then she spoke to him directly. "Blaine, phone's for you. It's your friend Sebastian."

Blaine's heart sank. For whatever unrealistic reason, he was hoping it would be Kurt.

He took the phone from her and went over to sit on the couch. "Hey, dude."

"You want to tell me why you weren't at rehearsal today?" Sebastian snapped without any kind of greeting.

Blaine had the unmistakable sensation of his stomach falling into his feet. He had completely forgotten that the Warblers had had practice today.

"Oh god, look, I started public school today and I joined the glee club, so we had rehearsal right after school and then I had someone over, and—"

"Really." Sebastian said, making it more of a statement than a question. "It was your first day of school, and you already met someone that was such a good friend that you wanted to have them over, instead of coming to _our _rehearsal?"

"It's a little more than just a friend," Blaine admitted. "Kurt's different. He's—"

"_He_?" Sebastian interrupted yet again. "Blaine Anderson, do you mean to tell me that you met your _soul mate _already, and it's a _boy_?"

"Well, yes," Blaine said simply.

He expected Sebastian to immediately start with the _I__ told you so _taunts, but he didn't. The other end of the line was silent for a long time before his friend spoke.

"Hmmm," Sebastian said. "That's funny. I didn't think you believed that could happen."

"I didn't," Blaine told him. "Past tense. It's different now."

"So you've known this kid for, like, what? A day? And you already know he's your soul mate."

"Actually, I met him last week at the—"

"And yet whenever I tried to put the moves on you, you didn't even give me a chance. Why is that, Blaine?" Sebastian asked. "Why is that?"

"Because I've always known you're not the one," was all Blaine said. "You don't understand now, but when you meet that person, you will. You'll know it as soon as you meet them that that's your soul mate."

"That still doesn't make up for the fact that you ditched us, Blaine," Sebastian said. "I don't give a fuck if he's your soul mate or whatever. We were there first."

Blaine sighed. He legitimately felt awful about the fact that he'd forgotten, but he wouldn't give up his time with Kurt for anything.

"Look, Sebastian. I'm _sorry_. It was an honest mista—"

"I don't care," Sebastian said. Blaine had lost track of how many times he'd interrupted him. "If you can't get your priorities straight, we're getting someone else as lead singer."

"Sebastian, _please_. We've had the group together for a while now…please don't do this to me. You guys are my _life_, okay? Joining the Warblers was the first time I ever felt important, and that…that means a lot to me. I love singing with you guys. You're like my brothers, in a weird way. Please. I promise I'll try and get things straightened out, but it's going to be really hard with school and glee club and Kurt—"

"Then I guess you have to choose," Sebastian said matter-of-factly. "You can be with the guys who have been there for you and had your back for _years _now, or you can go off and join your new little _glee club_. It's one or the other, Blaine. You can't have both. It's not fair to us and it's not fair to them."

"Listen to me for a second, okay?" Blaine protested. "I _love _you guys. I've already established that. But being at glee club rehearsal today…it was a completely different experience, but I loved that, too. Everyone there is so open and accepting and it's absolutely amazing. It doesn't matter who you are…you can be popular, or you can be a total outcast, but you'll be at home with the kids in glee. I…I don't know if I could choose."

"One or the other," was all Sebastian said.

He hung up, and Blaine was left listening to the drone of the dial tone. For the first time all day, he felt absolutely helpless.

**Next up, more with Blaine's family, particularly his parents.**** Blaine reunites with the Warblers and may have a little bit of help in making his decision. Also…some stuff with Klaine that I don't really know how to describe without giving it away lol. Reviews are lovely! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Kind of a short-ish chapter, but veryvery emotional. I was listening to Adam Lambert's amazing new album Trespassing (which you should all totally buy, btw) while I was working on this. A few songs (specifically Broken English, Underneath, Chokehold and Outlaws of Love) definitely influenced this chapter, especially the last part (which I think you guys will be happy with). Happy reading.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

The next day was Saturday, so Blaine didn't go to school for obvious reasons, but he still got together with the Warblers for their usual Saturday afternoon rehearsal. He knew it would be awkward, considering what had happened the night before, but he figured that he would at least show up to rehearsals until he figured out what he wanted to do.

Surprisingly enough, the rest of the guys in the group completely understood that Blaine had gotten sidetracked and caught up in his first day of school. Sebastian was the only one who seemed to have a problem with it and refused to cut him any slack whatsoever. From the moment he walked in the room, Blaine could feel the tension growing stronger and stronger every time he got relatively near Sebastian. It made him nervous and he didn't like it and he was suddenly wishing he could be with Kurt today.

But he couldn't do that, because the guys were all going out for pizza or something after rehearsal and Blaine, still feeling bad about forgetting yesterday, decided to tag along. Deep down inside, he knew he wouldn't enjoy it. Being with his friends from the Warblers used to be one of the high points of his week; today it felt like a reluctant obligation. He knew that was mostly because of Sebastian, but for some reason that thought didn't bring him much comfort.

"Wow, well isn't _this _a surprise," Sebastian sneered when Blaine informed him that he'd be joining them for pizza afterward. "You sure _Kurt _doesn't want you to go do something?"

Blaine heard Nick, who he hadn't even known was nearby, suddenly chime in. "Hey, Blaine, you should call Kurt and see if he wants to tag along. I know I'm really excited to meet him and these guys are, too."

There was a murmur of collective agreement from the rest of the guys, all of whom seemed interested in meeting Blaine's newfound love. All except Sebastian, of course, whose voice came off as annoyingly whiney as he protested.

"But…but Kurt's not a Warbler. This is _our _bonding night…we shouldn't have to have Blaine's little boyfriend tagging along. That's just going to be so awkward, none of us even _know _this guy…"

"Hey, Sebastian, last time I checked, you're not the voice of the whole group," Wes snapped. "I think it's obvious to everyone here that you're into Blaine and I think you're just jealous, and _that's _why you don't want to meet the guy who's going to give him his sight someday."

That seemed to knock Sebastian down a few pegs. "B-but…I…"

"Yeah, dude, it's pretty obvious," David admitted. "C'mon, just give Kurt a chance. Aren't you _happy _for Blaine that he finally found his soul mate?"

Sebastian breathed a sigh of surrender. "Whatever. I guess Blaine should call him and invite him along."

So Blaine did just that. After a quick phone call with Kurt, who had been reluctant at first but now seemed eager to meet more of Blaine's friends, Blaine hung up the phone and turned toward where he knew the rest of the group was waiting for him.

"I told him we could pick him up on the way. David, I'll give you the address." Since David was the only one in the group with his sight, he was the designated driver by default. Blaine spoke two more words, this time with firm strictness in his voice.

"Behave, Sebastian."

"What?" Sebastian asked innocently, and Blaine suddenly wished that both of them have their sight so that he could give a menacing glare and Sebastian could see it.

Blaine didn't even dignify that with a response. As they all piled blindly into the car with some assistance from David (bless his patient soul) he found himself hoping against hope that this would turn out okay.

xxx

It probably didn't take very long at all for them to get to Kurt's house, but for Blaine the drive may as well have lasted an eternity. When David finally announced that they had arrived, Blaine thought his heart was about to pound straight through his chest with anxiety. His best friends were about to meet the love of his life, which should have been exciting, but for some reason Blaine couldn't shake his nerves.

"He's coming," David announced from the driver's seat. "Some tall guy is helping him walk out here."

"That's probably Finn. He and Kurt are practically brothers," Blaine explained. "Kurt's mom passed away and so did Finn's dad, so now both of their little families live together."

He heard the car door being pulled open and turned toward the sound with a smile on his face to greet his true love. "Hello there."

"Hi," Kurt giggled, sounding a little flustered. There was the sound of the car door being pulled shut, probably by Finn, and then the car was moving. "Who's all here?"

"Just us Warblers," Blaine told him. "David's driving, then there's Wes, Nick, Jeff…and Sebastian."

The other guys all greeted Kurt and repeated their own name so that he could recognize each one by the sound of his voice. The only one who didn't speak up was Sebastian.

"This is so cool," Kurt gushed, making Blaine's heart relax a little bit when he noticed how genuinely happy and excited Kurt seemed to be. "I _loved _your guys' performance when I heard you sing at the talent show a few weeks ago. You're all incredible."

"Speak for yourself. We thought you were pretty amazing yourself," Nick told him graciously. "Especially Blaine."

Blaine would have responded, but suddenly he couldn't remember how to say words. It was extremely crowded with all of them crammed in the car together, which meant that Kurt was squished right up against him. Kurt turned toward Blaine after hearing what Nick had said, thus bringing them even closer and making Blaine's heart stop when he realized how close they must have been.

"Is that so?" he asked. There was a playful smile in his voice.

"Maybe," Blaine admitted.

"Well, we can't say we blame him," David chimed in. "You've got a really neat voice, Kurt. I've never heard anything like it."

Sebastian, finally making an attempt to include himself in the conversation, finally spoke up.

"Yeah, Kurt, your voice is really unique. Almost sounds like a girl or something."

In the next second, nearly everything seemed to happen at once. First, Blaine felt Kurt tense up beside him and he immediately curled his arm around the other boy's waist to the best of his ability as a sign of protection. Blaine felt his own rage start to boil angrily deep in the pit of his stomach and work its way up…he was practically shaking with anger, it was only a matter of seconds until he snapped.

_Do you know what he's done to himself? He has scars lining his arms because he couldn't stand hearing people say exactly what you just said. Don't you dare. _But he couldn't say anything about the scars, because that was something private that Kurt had shared with Blaine and Blaine alone. That didn't mean Blaine wasn't fuming mad at Sebastian for what he'd said.

"No, actually, I don't think so."

The voice that suddenly spoke belonged to Wes. He'd responded immediately after Sebastian had spoken; there was no hesitation whatsoever.

"Yeah, I don't think so either," David agreed. "His voice is definitely unique, but…no. Sorry, Sebastian."

Kurt seemed to be smiling as he acknowledged them. "Thanks, guys. I actually am really self-conscious about the way I sound, so I'm glad that most of you seem to like it."

"I never said your voice was _bad_," Sebastian protested. "I just meant—"

"Dude, nobody agrees with you," Jeff said bluntly. "Just drop it before Blaine comes at you."

"I'm surprised he hasn't already," Wes quipped flatly.

Blaine merely smiled, hoping that Kurt could be able to hear how sincere he was just by the sound of his voice.

"I think his voice is very masculine and very beautiful." He didn't even care if he sounded pathetically romantic in front of his friends, because it was true. Kurt may have had a distinctive, high-pitched voice, but there was an undeniable masculinity to it. Blaine didn't even understand how anyone would think he sounded like a girl.

But he didn't have much time to think about that, because suddenly Kurt was snuggling closer against him. His breath caught in his throat when he felt Kurt burying his face into the spot where his collarbone and shoulder melted together, and he forgot how to breathe entirely when Kurt's lips moved against his skin.

"Thank you." The words were spoken so softly that none of the other boys in the car would have been able to hear. Blaine could feel the shape of the words leaving Kurt's lips a fraction of a nanosecond before he actually heard the almost-silent sound of the other boy's whisper.

Suddenly he found himself wishing he'd skipped this whole let's-go-get-pizza thing altogether. He should have used this golden opportunity of free time after their Saturday-afternoon rehearsal to spend some time with Kurt alone.

"Aww, I wish you guys could see this." It was David's voice that spoke. Blaine figured he was probably looking back at them through the mirror as he drove. "Blaine's getting all sweet and cuddly with his boy."

_His boy_. Blaine liked the sound of that. Blaine liked the sound of that a lot.

He barely paid attention to the good-natured taunts and jokes his friends shot his way for the duration of the car ride and the subsequent pizza outing. Nothing commanded his attention more than Kurt's constant presence at his side.

xxx

Blaine was walking on air later that evening when he finally returned home with what was probably some stupidly happy grin on his face. He normally hated eating out, because of the inevitable awkwardness that came along with being blind and finding himself in an unfamiliar setting, but for once he'd actually been able to relax and enjoy himself. This had nothing to do with the comfort of his friends and everything to do with Kurt.

"Well, you sure look like you had a nice evening."

The sudden familiar female voice froze Blaine right where he was. This was one of his least favorite parts about not having his sight – sometimes things and people and voices seemed to sneak up on him, and because he couldn't see where they were coming from, he always felt like he was about to jump out of his skin.

"Jesus, Courtney, you scared me." He tried to catch the breath that had escaped in his sudden surprise, but it was difficult when his heart was beating so fast – something that was not uncommon these days.

"Sorry about that," she said. He heard her get up and start walking closer, then she took his hand and led him to sit over on the couch. "Talk to me. I want to hear all about your date."

Blaine blushed. "It wasn't really a date."

"Did all of you Warbler guys each pay for your own dinner?" Courtney asked.

"Well, yes," Blaine told her.

"Did Kurt pay for his?"

"No, I did. I thought it would seem a little rude to expect him to pay for himself when _I _was the one who invited him to come out with me and _my _friends."

"I knew it!" Courtney exclaimed. "You paid for him. It was a date."

"All my friends were there, Court. I would hardly consider that a 'date.'"

"You're not fooling anyone, Blaine. Just wait until your brother hears about this."

Blaine suddenly noticed that said brother wasn't there. "Hey, where _is _Coop, anyway?"

Courtney sighed exasperatedly. "He decided to be lame and go to bed early. I was just down here reading because I don't feel like going to sleep just yet."

Her tone became lighter as she continued. "Seriously, though, Blaine. I'm so happy for you. You're practically my little brother now and it makes me happy to see _you _so happy with Kurt."

Blaine couldn't help but let a huge smile spread across his face. "I never thought I'd ever be able to feel like this, but Kurt's incredible. He just…I can't even explain what he does to me."

"I know it's hard to explain," Courtney told him. "But that's love, Blaine. You're in love with him."

"Love." Blaine repeated the word as if he had just heard it for the first time. "I'm in love. I'm in love with Kurt. I love Kurt." He found himself smiling an even bigger smile as he tried the words on for verbal size. He adored the way they sounded because nothing had ever been truer.

He shook his head in disbelief, still completely unable to stop smiling. "I gotta say, I never saw this coming, but now that it's happening I wouldn't want it any other way."

"You never saw what coming?" Courtney asked. "Everyone meets their soul mate eventually, Blaine."

"I know," he said, "but I never thought mine would be a boy. I didn't even think that was possible."

Courtney laughed. "There's nothing impossible about this crazy magic," she told him. "Hey, by the way, your parents said they wanted to talk to you when you got home. I think they're upstairs."

For whatever reason, Blaine's heart sank. He was on such an emotional high after having an amazing time with Kurt and somehow he got the feeling that whatever his parents had to say would knock him down a few pegs, back to earth.

"I should probably go do that," he said, standing up from the couch, but then something unexplainable stopped him and he turned back toward where he knew the love of his brother's life was sitting.

"Hey, Court?"

"Yeah?"

He smiled. "Thanks."

"I don't really know what I did," Courtney admitted. "But you're welcome?"

"Trust me," he said, because he really _did _have a reason to thank her. She was the one who had finally given him the courage to admit his feelings out loud. "Just thanks."

He felt the familiar way upstairs and toward the noise of the television coming from his parents' bedroom. He raised his hand to feel his way inside; the door was partially closed so he pushed it open and stepped tentatively inside.

"Mom? Dad? Court said you wanted to talk to me."

"Oh, yes." After his mother spoke, the sound from the television abruptly ceased; she must have turned it off. "Come on in, but shut the door."

Blaine warily did as he was told. He carefully felt his way to the edge of his parents' bed and took a seat.

"Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble?" he asked with a certain timidity in his voice.

"No…," his mother began, but it seemed like there was more she wanted to say that she wasn't telling him.

"It's about your little friend Kurt." Blaine knew his father, known for his bluntness, would get straight to the point.

That didn't mean Blaine wasn't going to get defensive, though. "Dad, Mom, I think it was a little obvious the other night at dinner that he's…y'know, more than just a friend…"

"Which is why we're concerned," his mother said gently. "Your father and I think that you and Kurt might be getting a little too close for comfort, if you know what I mean…"

"Well, of course we're going to be close. He's my soul mate, Mom. We love each other."

He and Kurt hadn't even said those vital words to each other yet, but here he was boldly telling his parents that this was how it was.

"Son, I hate to break it to you, but what you feel for him…that's not _love_," his father said, not sounding sorry at all. "It's not possible for two men to give each other sight. Just a man and a woman, and that's it."

His words were so completely ridiculous and contradictory to the feelings Blaine felt in his heart that he actually laughed.

"No," he said after a few seconds of uncontrollable laughter. "Sorry, Dad, but Kurt and I _will _give each other sight someday. I know it seems weird…I thought so too, at first, but now I know that this is _real_."

"It's not real. You're infatuated with him," his mother told him. She paused for a second before continuing. "Which is why your father and I think it would be best if you changed back to being homeschooled. We don't think it's a good idea for you to spend so much time unsupervised in a public school environment where you can spend every waking moment with this boy."

Everything his parents said was getting more and more ridiculous by the second. Suddenly Blaine was overwhelmed with anger and he jumped to his feet.

"Unsupervised? There are teachers all over the place, Mom. I'm actually doing really well at public school. I _like _it there."

For the first time, he came to realize that, if Sebastian stuck to his word and forced him to choose, Blaine would choose being in the New Directions with Kurt in a heartbeat. The choice seemed so obvious to him all of a sudden, but he couldn't allow himself to dwell on that now.

"And nothing about the way I feel for Kurt is fake," he said softly. "It's _love_. I wish you would accept that. I know it's not something you hear about every day, but even Cooper said he's heard of two men unblinding each other before. It _has _happened, and it's going to happen again someday when I give Kurt his sight and he gives me mine."

His parents were silent for a long time. When his mother spoke, her words pierced through Blaine's heart like bullets, one right after the other.

"It's not real love," she said. "There must be a defect in the magic that blinds us all. You're not going to that school anymore, Blaine. I don't need you spending any more time with him, and that is final."

Blaine felt warm tears welling up in his eyes behind his blindfold. He hoped his parents, who both had their sight and who could actually _see _how much this was destroying him, were happy.

"Magic doesn't make mistakes," he said softly. "Neither does love, for that matter."

"I know this is hard now, but it's for the best," his father said in a tone that was probably meant to be reassuring. "Eventually you'll get over this ridiculous infatuation, and you'll look back and laugh when you realize how silly it was for you to think you were in love with another boy."

"I don't _think _I am," Blaine protested. "I _know _ I am. Please don't do this to me. Please don't do this to _us. Please_."

He was practically convulsing with sobs by this point, completely beyond the point of believing this was even happening. Not only did his parents not approve of who he'd fallen in love with, but they were taking active measures to keep him away from that person. Everything had crashed down around him in a matter of seconds and he didn't know if he'd ever be able to fight his way through it.

"Blaine, we're tired. Please stop overreacting and go to sleep." His mother's tone was downright dismissive, as if she didn't care that she'd just broken her son's heart and spirit.

Truth be told, though, Blaine really didn't feel like fighting this any longer. He forced himself to stand up on shaky legs and felt his way out of his parents' bedroom and into his own without saying another word.

He shut the door and curled up into a shaking little ball of sobs on his bed. He couldn't even believe what was happening. For once in his life, something was actually turning out to be amazing and his own family couldn't even accept the fact that he was happy. It wasn't fair. Neither he nor Kurt chose to fall for each other – it just happened, because that was how it was supposed to happen. They were destined to be together. As corny as it sounded in his head, it was fate.

Suddenly there was a knock on his bedroom door that temporarily snapped him out of his misery. A second later, he heard the door opening and his brother's voice. "You okay, B?"

"What do you think." Blaine's voice was muffled by his pillow.

"Considering the fact that your crying actually woke me up because it was so loud, I would think not," Cooper said flatly. Blaine felt the weight of his bed settling under his brother's weight as Cooper sat down. "You wanna talk about it?"

Blaine didn't move, but he proceeded to pour his heart out to Cooper all the same. He was still crying a little bit as he told his brother how their parents weren't allowing him to go to public school anymore because it would mean more time with Kurt, who supposedly deluded Blaine into thinking that the two of them were soul mates. He ranted and raged about how completely idiotic their arguments had been and how it was literally breaking him apart to think about what his life would be like without Kurt.

Cooper was nothing but patient and understanding and listened intently the whole time Blaine was babbling. When Blaine finally made himself shut up, Cooper offered to go get the phone so Blaine could call Kurt and talk to him.

Blaine shook his head to refuse the offer. "As much as I would love to hear his voice, I can't do that to him right now. I need to tell him at some point, but we had an amazing time together today and I don't want him to be unhappy." Besides, he and Kurt had begun an unofficial little tradition of talking on the phone every Saturday night, even after they got home from spending time together. He knew they'd be on the phone later that night anyway.

"Okay," Cooper said understandingly. He paused for a moment; there was something different in his tone when he spoke again.

"Y'know, Mom and Dad can try to keep you guys apart all they want. But whether they like it or not…if it's meant to be, it's going to happen. You and Kurt will find another way back to each other."

Blaine drew in a shaky breath. "But how long can that take?"

"Who knows," Cooper said. "But isn't he worth waiting a lifetime for?"

Those few words made Blaine stop breathing for a second.

"Of course he is," he finally said when he regained coherency.

"And would you be willing to wait forever for him, if that's what it takes?"

Blaine nodded. "Absolutely."

"Then don't sweat it," Cooper advised him. "Besides, Courtney and I have decided to extend our visit. We'll be here another week. Don't tell Mom or Dad I said this, but if you want to be with Kurt at any point this week at all…just come get me. I'll drop whatever I'm doing and take you over there."

For the first time since coming home that evening, Blaine smiled. "How did I get lucky enough to have such an awesome big brother?"

"I'm no more awesome than anyone else," Cooper said humbly. "I just know what it's like to be so completely beyond words in _love _with another person."

Suddenly Blaine felt himself being pulled into a hug as his brother continued speaking.

"I got your back, bro," he told Blaine. "Kurt's too. I support you guys one hundred percent. Everything will fall into place, and you'll get to be with Kurt."

Blaine hugged his brother back and hoped against impossible hope that Cooper was right.

xxx

Kurt smiled to himself as he felt the familiar digits of Blaine's number on the handset and dialed the phone. He curled himself up into a little ball and listened to the ringing from the other end of the line. His Saturday-night phone calls with Blaine were quickly becoming his new favorite tradition and they were an excellent prelude to each school week. Hearing Blaine's voice never failed to instantly put him in a brighter mood, no matter what the circumstances. It was amazing what that boy could do to him.

If he only knew what he was about to hear.

Cooper answered the phone sounding distraught. He seemed like he was in a big hurry to get the phone to Blaine. Kurt was confused but ultimately happy because every second spent not talking to Blaine was a waste of time.

But when Blaine finally got on the line, he sounded like he was choking back tears. Either that or he was already crying. It was hard to tell through the phone, but that didn't mean Kurt wasn't majorly upset by it.

"What's wrong?" were the first words out of Kurt's mouth after he heard the obvious strain in Blaine's voice. "Please tell me, Blaine. You sound like you're crying."

"I am," Blaine admitted. "I…I have bad news, Kurt."

Even though the sound of Blaine's obvious tears broke his heart, Kurt's heart still skipped a beat whenever he heard the tender emotion that carried on Blaine's voice whenever he said Kurt's name.

"What is it?" he asked hesitantly, getting more and more nervous by the second.

"I won't be at school with you this week." Blaine's voice was practically inaudible. "Or ever again, actually. My parents want me to switch back to being homeschooled because they don't want me around you."

His words hurt. They stabbed at Kurt's heart so fiercely that Kurt thought being stabbed by an actual knife would probably hurt less. The idea that someone out there was trying to take his Blaine away from him pierced right through to his soul. He reached up with one shaky hand and touched the blindfold that was wrapped around his face, wondering absentmindedly if it would ever come off now.

But he couldn't let any weakness show in his voice. He didn't want Blaine to be any more upset by this than he already was, so Kurt scraped together every last crumb of resilience he had in him and tried to sound as calm as he possibly could.

"Blaine, that's impossible," he whispered. "They can't do that to us. We're meant for each other. How are they going to stop fate from taking its course?"

"That's what Cooper said. Thank god he's on my side with this," Blaine told him. "My parents, on the other hand…they think this whole two-boys-unblinding-each-other thing is a load of bullshit. Which is funny, because that's exactly what their opinion is to me. Anyway, they think that by keeping me away from school and away from you, that these feelings will magically disappear and I'll go on to find my true love in the form of a woman." He laughed humorlessly. For whatever reason, the sound was like another stab to Kurt's heart.

He tried to focus on the positive side of things as best he could. "Well, I'm glad to hear that Cooper's with us, at least. He's a really cool guy. Maybe he can try and get your parents to look at this situation in a different way."

"I doubt that. They're pretty stubborn," Blaine said halfheartedly. "But the good thing is, he and Court are staying here for another week. He said that even though I won't be going to school with you anymore…if I wanted to be with you, he'd help me out and drive me over to your place or whatever."

"Yes," Kurt whispered without even thinking.

Blaine seemed taken aback, almost pleasantly surprised. "Yes what?"

"I need to be with you," Kurt said boldly. "Right now. I don't think this is a conversation we can keep having over the phone. Besides…now that this has happened, I don't know how much time…"

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, but Blaine seemed to know exactly what he meant.

"I know. I'll have Coop bring me over to your place right away."

"Okay," Kurt whispered. "Bye, Blaine."

"Bye, Kurt." The line went dead and Kurt suddenly became numb.

xxx

Less than an hour later, Blaine was standing on Kurt's front porch with Cooper beside him. His brother had refused to leave Blaine's side until he was safely in Kurt's trusting hands – or at least, that's what he'd told Blaine. Fortunately for both of them, they didn't have to wait long before the door opened.

"Blaine?" Kurt's voice was hesitant and more timid than Blaine had ever heard. It almost broke Blaine's heart.

"I'm here," Blaine said softly. He reached out instinctively for Kurt, realizing too late that he couldn't exactly see where he was.

He felt Cooper grab his wrist and place his hand into Kurt's. Suddenly he was overwhelmed with the sensation of being home.

"Cooper?" Kurt asked, trying to figure out who Blaine was with.

"He's all yours." Cooper's normally easygoing, boisterous voice was oddly solemn. He didn't say another word, but Blaine heard him turn around and retreat down the front steps of Kurt's house. Blaine was left standing on the porch and Kurt must have been in his doorway, and they were holding hands.

Kurt cleared his throat, probably trying to get rid of the sadness that was obviously choking his voice. "Come on in."

Blaine kept holding onto Kurt's hand as he carefully stepped up through the doorway. Kurt was in front of him, so once Blaine was in the house, he turned around and closed the door behind him.

"I hope I'm not bothering your family by being here," Blaine said. His voice was very quiet. "It must be late by now."

From the sound of Kurt's tone, it sounded like he was trying to come off as being less bothered by this than he really was. "Oh, don't worry about it…besides, I'm under the impression that I bother your family much more than you bother mine."

Blaine dropped his hand and moved to take the love of his life in his arms. "Kurt…"

"Let's go upstairs," Kurt whispered.

Blaine wasn't going to argue that. His hand found its way into Kurt's again and they made their way up to his bedroom. He had absolutely no idea what was about to happen, but his heart was pulsing like a metronome in his chest and his palm was getting sweatier with every step they took. It was actually a relief when they made it up to Kurt's room and curled into each other on his bed, because this way Blaine could wrap Kurt up in his arms and it wasn't as obvious that his hands were clammy as all hell.

It seemed like an eternity before either of them spoke, and Blaine didn't mind at all. He was content to lay there and feel Kurt close to him and safe in his arms. For once, it didn't matter that he couldn't see. He wouldn't change anything about this – it was one of the last perfect moments they'd have for a long time.

Suddenly he heard a gasp and a sniffle. It took him no time at all to realize that Kurt was crying.

He instinctively gathered Kurt closer to him and touched the side of his face. Sure enough, he could feel tears slipping out from under Kurt's blindfold. Blaine couldn't even see, but knowing how upset Kurt was broke his heart for what seemed like the thousandth time that night.

"Kurt," he whispered, not sure of what else to say.

"I just wish I was good enough for them." Kurt's voice as spoken through his tears was painfully broken, almost inaudible.

Blaine immediately realized what Kurt was talking about. A surge of emotional passion flooded through him.

"Fuck them," he said brazenly, making no attempt to hide the anger toward his family that distinctly marked his tone. "They obviously can't see how special you are to me, so who gives a damn what they think? I know I sure as hell don't. You are my _life_, Kurt. And one way or another, we're going to be together. I promise you that. After this week, when Cooper's gone, it'll be harder for us to find ways to be together. I'm not going to sugar-coat that. But it's meant to be. _We _are meant to be. And nothing can stop that."

Kurt didn't say a word after all that, but as he was trying to catch his breath Blaine felt a gentle hand caressing his face. His heart stopped.

Years of blindness had left Blaine remarkably attuned to his remaining four senses and all of a sudden he was aware of absolutely every sensuous feeling that he was experiencing. He carefully raised his hand to Kurt's face and felt the velvety smooth skin of his cheek, almost softer than the silk of his blindfold. He could hear their hearts pounding wildly against each other's and the sound of their ragged breathing as their faces moved closer. Blaine inhaled sharply and breathed in the unmistakable aroma of the love of his life – a mixture of cologne and hair product and coffee and something else that was just so distinctly _Kurt_. They bumped noses a few times, which Blaine figured was to be expected considering that neither of them could see, but Kurt's sweet little giggle immediately dissolved any awkwardness. And then there was an electric sensation and a taste to put with it.

Blaine's mind went completely blank for a second. It was hard to think, because the second his lips landed on Kurt's it seemed like the whole world had stopped right on its axis. Everything was still and perfect for a moment; neither of them moved, they just held the kiss exactly as it was. After a while, when the sensations finally caught up with both of them, Kurt melted against Blaine and turned the kiss into something more wonderful and more complex all at the same time.

The only thing Blaine could do was kiss Kurt back, reveling in the pure, pliant softness of his lips and the _taste _of him. He knew he could try for the rest of his life and never be able to put this perfect sensation into words. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was here and now and _Kurt_.

They remained wrapped up in the kiss for a long time, only breaking away for a fraction of a second at a time in order to breathe – and even then, Blaine knew their lips were probably only millimeters apart. After a while he was pleasantly shocked when Kurt pressed the tip of his tongue against Blaine's bottom lip. Blaine opened his mouth, letting Kurt taste him, and they both trembled.

Blaine neither knew nor cared how much time had passed before they finally broke away, leaning their foreheads together and breathing deeply. Kurt was the first one to speak and his voice was choked with tears again, this time for a totally different reason. Blaine much preferred these tears over the sad ones he'd been crying not too much earlier.

"You're amazing," he whispered. Blaine could hear a quiet smile in his voice.

"As are you." Blaine leaned in very carefully and placed one more soft, lingering kiss on Kurt's lips. This one didn't last nearly as long as the kiss they had just shared, but it spoke volumes. "Consider that my promise to you that we're going to make this work."

Kurt still sounded like he was smiling. "All right, but can you promise me again?"

Blaine was content to do just that, pressing promises to Kurt's lips in the form of sweet kisses. They didn't proceed any further than that for the rest of the night – they were perfectly fine with lying intertwined on Kurt's bed, kissing and tasting. Blaine was a bit tempted to reach around the back of Kurt's head and pull his blindfold off, but he forced himself not to do so. Despite the perfection of the moment, something told him that it wasn't the right time.

He forced himself to listen to his heart and just kept kissing Kurt – nothing more and certainly nothing less. Kurt's kisses that he gave Blaine in return were nothing short of lovely. Every single aspect of this moment was natural and right and it was enough.

For now.

* * *

><p>Reviews are lovely. Also, PLEASE nobody spoil anything about Glee for me. I have to wait until tomorrow to watch both new episodes because of stupid senior awards night at my school. I'm missing two hours of Glee so I can walk up onstage for ten seconds and have people clap while I shake hands with the principal. So it would really be wonderful if you guys would be sweet and leave me some reviews to read. That would definitely cheer me up about this whole missing Glee thing. :)<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

If (God forbid) anything should happen to this story, I'll post it on Scarves and Coffee (my username is Whatsername Lambert there, too :D). I'll keep you guys updated on Twitter and Tumblr if anything happens to this and I end up having to post it there.

Kurt's song is Underneath by Adam Lambert.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

Kurt knew he should be upset about the fact that Blaine was being forced to leave school against his will, but in all honesty, he was too blissfully happy to really notice. They'd fallen into a wonderful routine – Kurt would go to school, and Blaine would stay home for his lessons, then go to Warblers rehearsal with his friends. Cooper came to pick Blaine up from rehearsal and then dropped him off at Kurt's house, telling his parents every day that the Warblers had to extend their rehearsals because they were getting ready for an important show. Really, though, Blaine would be with Kurt.

And those encounters, although they only lasted for a few hours, never failed to be the best part of Kurt's day. The hours he spent with Blaine were their own little routine as well. He and Blaine would start off cuddling, wrapped around each other as they talked about their day and what was going on in their lives. Then, at some point, the kissing started. It never progressed much further than that – hands would wander as their mouths moved together, but never below the waist, and certainly never to the knot that held the other boy's blindfold in place behind his head.

It was a bit of an unspoken rule they'd agreed upon. Neither of them was ready to receive sight yet, so they wouldn't take that step. It was simple. Kurt honestly hadn't expected that he would be so nonchalant about the idea of not receiving his sight right away once he had met his soul mate, but now that it had actually happened, he really didn't see the need to rush things. They were going to be together forever; that was how fate had planned things, so they had plenty of time. Both of them would know when the time was right.

For now, he was perfectly fine with just the kissing, because kissing Blaine was fantastic. Every touch of Blaine's lips against his own made Kurt feel safe, like everything was going to be all right – something he never would have believed if he'd never met Blaine. The sensation of each new kiss was just the slightest bit more potent than the last, but the magic never ceased. Kurt had resigned to accept the fact that every single kiss would do nothing less than melt him, and he was more than okay with that.

School was different now that Blaine no longer attended. Although he'd only been there for a very short amount of time, his presence had impacted everyone he'd managed to meet, especially Kurt. But now that he and Kurt had taken things to the next level and were acting upon their feelings for one another, Kurt was using his classes as an opportunity to daydream. He thought about Blaine, of course – about Blaine's lips and Blaine's velvety soft voice and the way it seemed to carry the gentlest caress whenever he said Kurt's name.

He was speaking again, and not just when spoken to. Even though Blaine was no longer present in the school hallways, just knowing that they would be together a few hours later made Kurt unbelievably happy. He chatted amiably with his friends in the halls between classes and he even volunteered information in classes that he shared with Karofsky and the other bullies. When one of said bullies made a snarky retort after hearing Kurt speak, he either pretended he hadn't heard or responded with a snappy comeback, depending on the situation. He was a completely different person than he'd been before Blaine had come along, and Kurt came to realize almost immediately that he liked this version of himself much better.

It was almost enough to get him through the mind-numbingly long days. _Almost_.

Glee club practice, weirdly enough, was the most difficult part of his Blaineless days. He'd gotten so used to hearing Blaine's voice from his spot beside Kurt as he sang, and he missed it. He missed the heat that would always rise to his face whenever the song they were singing was romantic in nature, because despite his lack of vision, Kurt could tell from the tender passion in Blaine's voice that he was singing the lyrics straight to him. And he especially missed Blaine's presence at one particular rehearsal, the fourth since Blaine had left school, when two couples delivered miraculous news to the club.

"Tina and I unblinded each other yesterday," Mike Chang announced proudly at the start of rehearsal. "And…"

Santana picked up where he'd trailed off, her voice filled with unimaginable love and adoration. "So did Brittany and I."

Kurt's heart fluttered with pure, unadulterated joy in his chest. Both couples had been together for quite a while now, so everyone in the club knew that it would only be a matter of time before they gave each other sight, but that didn't mean he wasn't thrilled for all four of them. Especially Brittany and Santana. Those girls were living proof that love knew no boundaries when it came to gender, and he suddenly felt a deluge of hope flooding his entire being. He hoped that this would prove people like Blaine's parents and the bullies at his school completely and totally wrong.

He smiled blissfully and reached over to his right, where Blaine had sat during his short time with the group, to give his soul mate's hand a happy squeeze. Disappointment fell over him like a dark cloud when he grasped at empty air, having realized too late that Blaine was no longer there.

Mr. Schuester announced to the group that in honor of this incredible occasion, they were going to sing a happy song about love. Kurt read the sheet music to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" with his fingers and tried his best to look happy as he sang along. Really, though, he couldn't stop focusing on the fact that there was a very important someone missing from this special moment.

xxx

Just as glee club rehearsals had now become somewhat disappointing for Kurt, Blaine found himself dreading Warblers practice each and every afternoon. In the days since his parents had decided not to send him to school anymore, those rehearsals were nothing more than necessary annoyances that he had to endure if he wanted to spend time with Kurt. Actually, there was really only _one _necessary annoyance with whom he had to put up. The rest of the guys were friendly as normal, but Sebastian had become unbearable.

"You're so _distracted _lately. God, Blaine, get ahold of yourself, would you? It's completely throwing off our sound," he complained after Blaine had accidentally fumbled the lyrics to the song they'd been practicing.

"Hey, give the guy a break," Jeff cut in defensively. "His parents just told him he can't be around the love of his life. I don't blame him for being a little upset."

"That was ages ago. He needs to get over it," Sebastian commented shortly, as if Blaine weren't even there.

Blaine spoke up. "Actually, it was only—"

"We're all sorry about what happened, Blaine, but you can't let it get to your head like you've been doing," Sebastian interrupted. "Look, I know you're our lead soloist and all that, but that doesn't mean you get to just mess up whenever you want."

"Who said I 'wanted' to mess up?" Blaine shot back. "You think I 'want' you getting on my case like this? No, I don't. It's annoying and you need to back off. You have _no _idea what I'm going through."

"Oh, come _on_. Don't you still get to spend time with him every day after rehearsal? It's not like the guy _died_."

Blaine's blood went cold for a second at the mere thought of Kurt having died, but he didn't even dignify that part of Sebastian's comment with a response. "It's not just that. It's not just that my parents pulled me out of school. It's the fact that they _refuse _to accept that I've finally met the love of my life, and they think that the attraction he and I share is unnatural. My own parents. Is _that _a good enough excuse for you?"

The room was silent for an awkward few seconds after Blaine's outburst. The first to speak up, surprisingly, was Wes.

"I have an idea," he volunteered. "Why don't we let Kurt audition for our group? I know it won't help the situation with your parents, Blaine, but at least having him around will make you happier. Not to mention it'll freshen up our sound. From what I remember, the dude's got a killer voice."

Blaine considered this. It sounded more and more appealing with each passing second. "Y'know, that's actually not a bad idea."

The rest of the guys voiced their approval, and Blaine was almost happy for a second before Sebastian opened his big mouth.

"But having Kurt around will just make Blaine even more distracted. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to have to listen to them making out all the time. Plus, since when do we need to freshen up our sound? I think we sound fine just the way we are. We don't need to bring anyone else in and change that. Besides, he sounds like a gi—"

"Don't _even _say it," Blaine threatened, "or I will leave this rehearsal, never come back, and you'll have to find yourself a new lead soloist."

"Besides, it isn't even true," Nick chimed in. "I think we should give him a shot."

"This is _such _a bad idea," Sebastian grumbled.

"Well, my friend, majority rules in this group," Blaine told him with a satisfied smirk. "That's how it's always been. Everyone else wants Kurt to join, so Kurt's joining." He paused, hesitating for a moment. "If he _wants _to, of course."

Somehow, though, he didn't think Kurt would mind one bit.

xxx

"So, something pretty amazing happened at glee club rehearsal today," Kurt murmured happily, snuggling into Blaine's arms once they were _finally _together later that evening.

"Mmmm." Blaine's lips found the top of Kurt's head, pressing an affectionate kiss to his hair. "What's that?"

Kurt slowly let his hand travel down Blaine's arm. He interlocked their fingers; secretly thrilled that he was becoming so familiar with Blaine's body even though he couldn't see. "We found out that two couples unblinded each other," he said. "Mike and Tina, and Brittany and Santana."

A jolt of happiness and hope shot through Blaine's heart when Kurt said the names of the latter couple. "Oh, Kurt, that's so wonderful. I mean, I'm happy for both of them, but Santana and Brittany…hearing about them just makes me so hopeful about all of this."

"I know," Kurt agreed. "And…it just made me sad that you couldn't have been there with us when we were all sharing their joy with them at rehearsal today." He smiled, but his voice was sad as he continued. "I wanted you there with me."

"I would have given anything," Blaine whispered, and Kurt knew it was true.

But before he could get ahead of himself, Blaine had his proposition to make. His voice was still quiet as he continued. "But I think I know of a way that would allow us to spend more time together."

There was already a happy flurry of butterflies floating around in Kurt's stomach at the mere possibility of this. He smiled, for real this time. "Do tell."

"We want you to audition for the Warblers," Blaine declared.

Kurt hadn't been expecting that, but that didn't mean he wasn't ecstatic about the possibility. "'We'? As in, the other guys are okay with me joining, too?"

"Well, all the other guys except Sebastian," Blaine admitted.

Kurt nodded to himself. "I appreciate your honesty, and I can't say I'm surprised," he said. He paused for another quiet moment, considering what Blaine had offered. "But if you guys are okay with it, then yes. I'd love to join. I'm not gonna lie, glee club rehearsals aren't as much fun without you." He tried to make his voice sound as sad as possible, which wasn't difficult. "I miss you."

"Aww." There was a sweet smile in Blaine's voice as he pulled Kurt closer. "I miss you too, Kurt. I miss singing with you. I'm so happy you want to join the Warblers."

"As long as it doesn't interfere with glee club rehearsals right after school, I'd be more than happy to join," Kurt told him. "My friends would have my head if I told them I was quitting glee. They're all excited that I've finally broken out of my shell and stopped letting the bullies get to me."

Blaine smiled. It made him so happy to know that _Kurt _was happy. "Of course it won't. You'll be able to do both, don't worry," he assured him. "You _do _have to audition, but that's just more of a formality so we get a chance to hear your voice again. We already know we want you to join."

"I'll do whatever you guys need me to do," Kurt promised. "I'm just…I'm glad I'll be able to spend more time with you."

"So am I." Blaine's fingers were suddenly ghosting lightly over the side of his face, memorizing the shape of his cheekbones and the curve of his jawline. "Cooper's only in town for a few more days. When he leaves, he obviously won't be able to bring me over here anymore. If you don't join the Warblers, it'll be even harder for us to be together."

He hesitated, then continued almost as if he'd had an afterthought. "But I don't want you to base your decision solely on me. I want you to join the Warblers because it's what _you_ want to do."

"Of course it's what I want to do." Kurt laughed a little bit; the sound rumbled through Blaine's body given their proximity. "Yes, I'm happy that it'll give me an opportunity to be with you. But also…you guys are _so _talented. I'm honored that you want me to join. I think this will be a great experience."

"I do, too," Blaine told him. "And your voice is going to be a great addition to our group, trust me. It's so unique and gorgeous."

Kurt smiled, feeling his face turning warm with a blush. "Thank you," he said humbly. "But…can I just make one request?"

"Anything."

"When I try out for the group…can I audition at school? Like…would you guys be able to come there and I could sing in the auditorium? I was thinking I could invite my friends from glee club to come listen. I know it sounds stupid, but I would feel a lot better if I could be somewhere familiar."

"You really have nothing to worry about," Blaine reassured him. "But if it makes you feel better, then you can absolutely do that. It's not stupid."

"Okay. Thanks." Kurt exhaled a breath of relief. "I, um…I know how Sebastian feels about me, so this way if he tries to insult me, at least I'll have my friends there to back me up."

"If he knows what's good for him, he won't open his mouth unless it's to praise you." Blaine's arms tightened protectively around Kurt. The mere thought of Sebastian saying or doing anything to make Kurt uncomfortable when he was already in the vulnerable position of singing in front of all of them made his blood boil.

Kurt laughed humorlessly. "Do you really think he would do that? I wouldn't think it would be possible for him to ever say anything nice about me."

"Oh, once he hears you sing again, I'm sure he'll be eating his words," Blaine said confidently. "There's something magical about you, Kurt. It's there in your voice when you sing…in your whole self. There's no doubt in my mind that you'll be able to completely captivate every single one of us, Sebastian included."

"You have magic, too," Kurt said quietly. He let one hand wander to Blaine's chest, over his heart, feeling it beat into his palm. "Someday you're going to make me able to see."

"I know. And the same for you with me," Blaine murmured soothingly. "When the time is right…we're going to see each other, Kurt."

He placed one hand on the side of Kurt's face and their lips carefully found their way into a brief but tender kiss. When they pulled away, Blaine didn't move his face very far. His lips still brushed against Kurt's with a butterfly's caress as he spoke.

"I bet you're beautiful," he murmured. "Well, I already _know _you're beautiful, just because of who you are. But when I finally see you…it'll be different in the best possible way."

Kurt trembled when he felt the pad of Blaine's thumb gently tracing the curve of his lower lip. "How do you know?"

"How do I know that you'll be beautiful when I see you?" Blaine asked in response. "I can already tell just from what I pick up with the other four senses."

He placed his hand on the side of Kurt's face, stroking the skin of his cheek. "Your skin is so soft. Every time I touch you…it's electrifying. It feels flawless."

Kurt spoke up. "But—"

"Shhh." Blaine hushed him with a press of his index finger against Kurt's lips. Kurt kissed his finger and reached up to hold Blaine's hand against his mouth; he kissed his knuckles, his palm, his wrist. "Your scars make you who you are, Kurt. As much as I hate that you were hurting so badly that you felt you had to do that to yourself…now they're like a symbol of everything you've overcome and how strong you are. You wouldn't be _you _without those scars."

As if to prove his point, he moved his hand down to the inside of Kurt's forearm and traced over the crisscrossing of scars that marred his skin. Kurt felt like he could dissolve under Blaine's touch. Blaine continued quietly, remembering all the sensations he'd experienced the first time he and Kurt had ever kissed.

"You always smell nice," he said. "I know you wear cologne, but there's something else. Something that's just _you_. And I like snuggling with you like this, because I get to breathe you in and just know that you're here with me."

He moved in closer, placing his lips on whatever part of Kurt was right in front of his face. It ended up being the nape of his neck. Blaine pressed a lingering kiss to the skin there and nuzzled against it.

"Your voice is like home to me," he said softly. "It's unique and it's so, so beautiful, Kurt. Whether you're talking or singing, hearing your voice has always been comforting to me. And when you say my name…I just feel like the luckiest person alive to know that I have you."

"Blaine," Kurt said simply, as if to prove his point, a smile in his voice.

"Just like that," Blaine whispered. He moved his mouth in a trail of kisses up Kurt's neck, hunting blindly until he found his lips. He kissed him slowly and passionately for a moment before speaking again.

"And—," he was trying his best to speak in between kisses, since Kurt didn't seem interested in letting him get very far, "you taste _wonderful_."

That was the last thing he'd be able to say for a while, because his mouth was suddenly very busy.

xxx

Kurt had been chatting amiably with Mercedes at his locker when suddenly he couldn't help but notice that someone else was looming over their conversation.

"Well, if it isn't Lady Hummel. I thought I heard you from all the way across the hall," Dave Karofsky's familiar snarling voice said.

Kurt smiled and made his voice sound as polite as he possibly could. "Hello, David."

"Who said you could call me that?" Karofsky demanded.

"Well, it's your name, so that's how I'll address you," Kurt said calmly. "What do you want?"

"I was just wondering if it's true." Karofsky's voice was suddenly lower, as if he were telling them a secret. "If those two girls really did unblind each other."

"Santana and Brittany?" Mercedes spoke up. "Yeah, they did. They proved to everyone in this school that gender doesn't matter when it comes to true love."

Karofsky seemed taken aback. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Kurt snapped. "Now if you don't mind, David, Mercedes and I really need to get going."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Karofsky called after them, having heard Kurt and Mercedes start to walk away.

Kurt heard Mercedes sigh dejectedly beside him as they made their way through the halls. "Y'know, I was almost hopeful there for a second that he might have been opening his mind. Guess I was wrong."

"He'll believe it when he sees it. Who is he kidding?" Kurt asked rhetorically. "For Brittany and Santana's sake, I hope they're out of here long before he gets his sight."

"Me too," Mercedes agreed. "But let's not dwell on that anymore. How are you feeling about your audition?"

Kurt would be auditioning for the Warblers that afternoon following the close of the school day. "I mean, I'm nervous, but I guess that's to be expected," he admitted. "Other than that, I'm excited. I think this will be a great new opportunity for me to find my voice."

He wasn't completely telling her the truth. Yes, he was nervous, but he knew exactly the reason why this was so. Now that a good number of his fellow glee club members had their sight, he had decided that it was time to really bare his soul to his friends. They knew he'd been unhappy for a long time, but they didn't know to what extent. Today when he auditioned, he was going to completely open himself up and show them all just how deeply the bullying had affected him. Although his outlook on life had improved significantly since he'd met Blaine, he thought that his friends deserved to know just what he'd been through.

"Well, I know you're going to do great." There was a smile in her voice and she squeezed his arm. Kurt's heart stopped for a moment when her fingers touched the skin of his forearm. He'd specifically chosen to wear short sleeves today.

"Hey, what's wrong with your arm?" Mercedes asked.

"It's nothing." He pulled away from her gentle grasp. "Wait, I shouldn't say that. It _is _something. I'll explain it later, okay?"

He was pretty sure he'd arrived outside his classroom, so he reached up and read the room number with his fingers. Sure enough, this was where he needed to be. He turned toward where he knew Mercedes was standing.

"My class is right here. Catch you later."

Mercedes was left standing in the middle of the hallway with more questions than answers. As the bell rang to signal the start of class, she could have cared less about the fact that she was late. All that mattered right now was her best friend, and something told her that there was much more to Kurt Hummel than he was letting on.

xxx

"Hello. Thank you all for coming today."

Rachel Berry couldn't help but notice just how vulnerable Kurt looked under the glare of the spotlight onstage. She figured it mostly had to do with the fact that he was blindfolded, but there was something else in his demeanor that seemed off.

She reached for Finn's hand and looked at him, silently asking if he knew what in the world was going on – after all, Finn and Kurt were practically brothers. Finn shrugged and shook his head. He had no more idea what Kurt was doing than she did.

"I know this is just supposed to be about me auditioning for the Warblers, but I decided to take it one step further," Kurt said. Blaine could hear his voice trembling. "There are some things about me that I've kept hidden for a long time and I think it's time to get them out in the open now."

Blaine was pretty sure he knew exactly which things Kurt was talking about, but that didn't make him any less tense as Kurt's beautifully broken voice continued.

"Most of you know that I've been bullied for a long time because of the way I sound," Kurt said. "If you didn't know that…well, now you do."

Sebastian shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"I've been called horrible, horrible things. I've been told I sound like a girl." Kurt's voice was weak; it sounded like he was on the verge of tears. "I've been told that nobody will ever want to give me my sight because they won't be able to tell if I'm a boy or a girl, and the sound of my voice will confuse them. I've been told I'm never going to find the love of my life, and that I'm going to die alone."

Dave Karofsky had stayed after school that day to get extra help from one of his teachers. He'd just been on his way out when he'd heard Hummel's distinctive voice coming from the open door of the auditorium as he passed. For whatever reason, Hummel's words made him stop cold. He felt his way into the doorway of the room and held his breath, hoping that nobody in the room who could see would turn around and spot him. He had no idea who else was in there with Hummel – he figured it was the rest of the glee club – and if any of them saw him there eavesdropping, he knew he'd be in trouble.

"I let the bullying get to me so much that I had to find a new outlet for my pain," Kurt continued. "There are countless scars lining the inside of both of my arms. I'll let you use your imagination as to how they got there."

He paused. Blaine wasn't sure if it was for dramatic effect, or because Kurt was getting so choked up that it was difficult to speak. When he finally heard Kurt's immaculate voice speak again, mangled with tears this time, he assumed it to be the latter reason.

"Because let me tell you something. They didn't get there on accident," Kurt said softly.

He tried his best to swallow his nerves and make his voice even again. "I just thought you all deserved to know that," he said. "I'd like to sing my song now."

His last comment was directed toward Mr. Schuester, who nodded and pressed the Play button on a stereo in the wings. A soft instrumental opening drifted through the speakers. Kurt stood onstage with his head down; when it was time for him to sing, he lifted his head up and let the words flow softly into the microphone.

"Strip away the flesh and bone, look beyond the lies you've known."

Somehow, he'd managed to chase away all the tears he had left, and his voice was soft and pure as he began the song. All of those in the room who could see watched him with rapt attention.

"Everybody wants to talk about a freak, no one wants to dig that deep, let me take you underneath."

Sebastian inhaled sharply, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Were those…_goosebumps_? Already? The kid had just barely started to sing. It couldn't be from that. It was a little cold in the room. Yes, that had to have been it.

"Baby, better watch your step. Never mind what's on the left."

There was some kind of beautiful, dark emotion in Kurt's voice. Sebastian felt another rush of chills; this time he didn't even try to convince himself that it was due to the drafty air inside the auditorium.

"You're gonna see things you might not want to see."

Finn immediately stopped breathing as he watched the kid he'd come to love like a brother extend his arms out to the side, revealing the scars he'd spoken about before he started to sing. He felt Rachel tense up beside him and immediately reached for her hand. Kurt _had _warned them about the scars, but actually _seeing _them…

"It's still not that easy for me underneath."

Very carefully, Karofsky made his way from the threshold of the door into the auditorium itself. He groped around the backs of the seats in the row furthest from the stage until he finally managed to lower himself into a sitting position. He was glad he'd managed to sit just in time, because Kurt's voice suddenly swelled with power as he continued the song and Karofsky was pretty sure it would have knocked him backward had he been standing.

"A red river of screams underneath, tears in my eyes underneath, stars in my black and blue sky

And underneath, under my skin, underneath the depths of my sin, look at me, now do you see?"

The music became abruptly quieter and Blaine could almost hear his own heart pounding in his chest. Granted, he'd always known how talented Kurt was, but this…this was a whole new level. The fact that he could put this much emotion into sharing something that was so personal couldn't have been easy for him, but Blaine found himself admiring the love of his life with a whole new level of respect for doing this.

"Welcome to my world of truth, I don't want to hide any part of me from you."

Sebastian was suddenly wishing he could take back every awful thing he'd ever said about Kurt. He knew himself, and there was no way in hell that he'd ever have the balls to get up in front of so many people and not only confess to something so deeply personal, but then to sing a song so beautifully. He was glad that neither he nor Blaine could see just yet, because there was no way he'd be able to look Blaine in the eye after this.

"I'm standing here with no apologies."

Just a few yards away, in the back of the auditorium, Karofsky had become completely spellbound by Kurt's voice as well. Sure, he'd made fun of Hummel's speaking voice a little bit, but he'd never heard the kid _sing_. There was something so hauntingly mesmerizing about the fearless way he was bringing the lyrics to life.

"Such a beautiful release, you inside of me."

Well, that part was obviously meant for Blaine, Sebastian figured. He'd heard about the ways in which two men could make love to one another, and although he didn't really want to think about Kurt and Blaine doing any of those things, he was suddenly envious of the two of them. Why did it seem to be taking _him _so long to find that special someone…?

"A red river of screams underneath, tears in my eyes underneath, stars in my black and blue sky

And underneath, under my skin, underneath the depths of my sin, look at me, now do you see?

Underneath, underneath, underneath; underneath, underneath"

Blaine couldn't understand the sensation he was experiencing as he listened to Kurt sing. For whatever reason, he found himself wondering what Kurt _looked _like up there as he poured his heart and soul out in front of everybody. That unusual desire combined with the power of Kurt's voice, even as it grew soft again, was almost too much to bear.

"Welcome to my world of truth."

Karofsky was completely numb in his seat by this point. He wished more than anything that he could let Kurt know just how sorry he was for the things he'd said, but it was too late for that now. God only knew if Kurt would forgive him.

"A red river of screams underneath, tears in my eyes underneath, stars in my black and blue sky

And underneath, under my skin, underneath the depths of my sin, look at me, now do you see?

Underneath, underneath, underneath

Look at me, do you see? Look at me, do you see?"

Finn was suddenly mad at himself. His hand was sweating profusely and he moved to pull it away from Rachel's so as not to gross her out, but she only tightened her grip on his hand to keep it right there. He _lived _with Kurt, for crying out loud, and he couldn't believe he'd been so blind (figuratively speaking) to everything the guy had been going through.

Kurt finished the song with a quiet kind of power. By now, there were tears in his voice that he didn't dare cry.

"Welcome to my world of truth, I don't want to hide any part of me from you."

The entire room was dumbstruck. Nobody could bring themselves to say a word, because how did one acknowledge such a fantastic display of talent and emotion? Blaine wanted to say something, he truly did, but he was at a complete loss for words. Even though the two of them had never said the three magic words so explicitly to each other, he knew in that moment that he was more in love with Kurt than he'd ever been.

From his seat in the back of the auditorium, Karofsky of all people decided to break the silence. He knew that if he didn't apologize to Kurt now, he never would. He stood up and carefully felt his way down the aisle toward the front near where he knew the stage was.

"Kurt. There's something I need to say to you." His voice was solemn, low with remorse.

Understandably, Kurt sounded confused. "David?"

But Kurt wasn't the only one who had been struck by surprise by the sound of the unexpected voice. Sebastian, even though he knew he couldn't see who had spoken, found himself turning toward the direction from which the voice had come. He was overwhelmed with the desire to know the person who had spoken, this David (Sebastian sure hoped there was a nickname he liked to go by, like 'Dave' or something, because between this guy and his friend David from the Warblers, things would get very confusing).

He thought back to what Blaine and everyone else had said about the moment you find the person you're destined to be with. _You just know_.

"I was just walking by when I heard you in here and something stopped me. I just…I don't know why," Karofsky said nervously. "But when I heard you singing right now…it was so beautiful. You amazed me, Kurt. And…I don't know how sincere you think I am, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I treated you before."

The more he heard David speak, the harder it became for Sebastian to hold his tongue. He stood up and turned toward where David was probably standing, then spoke the other boy's name.

Karofsky froze right where he was when he heard the unexpected, unfamiliar voice. He didn't even know who had spoken, but in that moment he realized that everything he'd heard over the years was true.

This voice belonged to his soul mate. He was so awestruck that he didn't even notice that it was a boy who had spoken.

"Who are you?" he asked, his own voice suddenly weak.

"My name is Sebastian Smythe," the voice said. "And I think you're…"

Dave shook his head. "No. I _know _you are."

Mike, having made the snap decision to put his newfound gift of sight to good use, stood up from his seat and took Sebastian's hand. Sebastian seemed confused for a moment until Mike stopped in front of Dave Karofsky. He took Kurt's former bully's hand and placed it in Sebastian's, then let go and smiled in satisfaction as he watched the realization strike both of their faces.

"Oh, my god." Sebastian knew there was no way he could ignore the electric sensation that shot through him when his skin came in contact with David's. "Yes. Yes, you are."

Wes, who was sitting beside Blaine, suddenly spoke up. "Well, this is an unexpected turn of events. Great job, Kurt."

Kurt couldn't see what was going on, but he smiled to himself. He knew that if it wasn't for his performance, Sebastian and Dave wouldn't have found each other. He wasn't even upset that some of the attention was no longer on him, because something miraculous had just happened.

Blaine, meanwhile, still found himself unable to speak. He was so overwhelmed with love for this incredible boy and he knew that there was no way he could go on stumbling through darkness for much longer. In that moment, he knew – he had to see Kurt.

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><p>So I'm thinking there's only going to be maybe two more chapters of this story (three more at the most). When I started it, I never really had the intention of making it longer than maybe 10 chapters, so yeah. Definitely two more, maaaaaybe three.<p>

Reviews rock my world.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, so this is the last actual chapter of this story D: next up is the epilogue…and this is super short but also super fluffy.

The wonderful treinjessica from Tumblr drew a beautiful picture for this fic! I'm using it as the cover, but you can see a better-quality version here: bit . ly / LUOUon (take out all the spaces :/)

Like I said…it's really short, and also this is probably the most difficult thing I've ever written in my life. Weeeee. 

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

After everyone else had left the auditorium, Kurt's boyfriend and his entourage of so-called Warblers included, Dave Karofsky found himself sitting in the large, empty room next to the boy who was apparently the love of his life.

"So this is it," Sebastian Smythe said matter-of-factly. "You're really my soul mate."

Dave didn't say anything for a while. He still had to take it all in – not only had he met his soul mate completely by chance, but said soul mate was a boy. As it turned out, Dave himself was everything that he'd made fun of Kurt Hummel for. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been.

"I guess I am," he said slowly. "I, um…I have to admit, I never thought it would happen this way."

"Happen what way?" Sebastian asked.

Dave sighed. His words made sense in his head, but he had no idea how to verbalize them. "I always thought…my soul mate would be a girl."

"So did Blaine Anderson," Sebastian said, his voice careful.

Dave had never really learned Kurt's boyfriend's name, but somehow he knew exactly who Sebastian was talking about.

"Blaine used to be so stubborn," Sebastian continued. "He never believed that two people of the same gender could give each other sight. He was dead-set on the fact that someday he'd meet some girl and they'd fall in love and eventually unblind each other. Then he met Kurt. He was a totally different person after that…but even though I never admitted this to him, I really think Kurt changed him for the better."

Dave thought back to the first time he'd ever spoken with Kurt and his boyfriend, who was apparently named Blaine. He remembered specifically how verbal Kurt had been – something that Dave had found pretty weird, considering that Kurt rarely spoke. Blaine had made Kurt fearless.

"I think Blaine did the same for Kurt," he admitted. "I, um…I wasn't very nice to him for the longest time."

Sebastian could sense that Dave's regret for how he had treated Kurt was making him upset. It was remarkable how they'd only just met, and yet they were already so attuned to each other. He immediately changed the subject.

"Why the hell are we still talking about Kurt and Blaine?" he blurted out of the blue.

He hadn't intended for Dave to answer, but Dave responded anyway.

"Look, I'm not really good with talking about stuff like this," he said carefully, "but we both have our regrets. We just need to move past what happened between each of us with those two and focus on this."

He carefully reached over, letting his hand find Sebastian's, and linked their fingers together. Nothing had ever felt more natural and right.

"I like that idea," Sebastian said softly. "We've got each other now." He paused, then continued almost as if he were embarrassed. "Sorry if that sounds dumb or whatever. I'm not good at this emotional stuff, either." He laughed dryly. "We really are perfect for each other, I guess."

"I guess we are," Dave agreed.

They sat there in the otherwise silent auditorium, talking for what could have been hours – neither of them knew nor cared. All that mattered was that somehow, someway, they'd found each other in the most impossible of circumstances.

xxx

As usual, Finn had driven Kurt home from school that day. This time, though, Blaine tagged along.

His heart was pounding wildly for the entire duration of the drive back to Kurt's house. Obviously he hadn't had a good moment just yet to tell Kurt exactly what he wanted to do – what he _needed _to do at some point today, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could go without knowing what Kurt looked like. Even so, he knew he had to wait for the right moment. They had to be alone, for one, and even when they _did _get some privacy, he didn't just want to spring it on Kurt right away. He wanted to ease him into it a little bit, maybe with some loving kisses, before proposing to him that they remove each other's blindfolds.

When they arrived, Kurt took Blaine's hand and led him out of the car, up to the front porch, into the house and up to his room where they had plenty of privacy. Blaine loved the fact that Kurt's father was respectful enough of their relationship that he was willing to let them be alone up in Kurt's bedroom together. He knew that if, for some reason, he and Kurt were ever over at his own house, they would be under constant scrutiny, never allowed to be alone. It brought him some comfort to think that maybe, just maybe, he and Kurt would be able to prove his own parents wrong once they gave each other their sight.

He heard Kurt shut the door and lock it, then suddenly Kurt's warm hand was curled into his once again and they were on the bed, horizontal almost immediately as they started kissing. This was new – usually they talked for a little bit before the kissing started, but Blaine liked it. It almost seemed as if Kurt were just as eager as he was.

Kurt's mouth was warm and ferocious as he kissed Blaine with all the passion he had in him. Before Blaine could comprehend what was happening, his hands had found their way up the front of Kurt's shirt, touching him before Blaine himself even really knew what he wanted. He decided to follow his body's lead and kept right on touching him, relishing the moans Kurt made right into his mouth as he mapped out the strong musculature of the other boy's chest with his hands.

Blaine shivered and slid his hands out from under Kurt's shirt so he could carefully lift it up and off over his head. Kurt immediately returned the favor, and when he had rid Blaine of his shirt he constricted his arms around Blaine's waist and pulled their bodies as close as physically possible. The chest-to-chest contact felt wonderful to Blaine – he loved feeling so much of Kurt's warm skin pressed right up against his own; but at the same time, he needed more. All other needs and desires were temporarily forgotten as he let his hand wander beneath Kurt's waistband for the first time.

For a delirious moment, Blaine thought that he didn't even _need _his sight now that his inevitable sex-craving-teenage-boy hormones had kicked in. Kurt moaned deeply while still managing to kiss Blaine ferociously and bucking his hips up into Blaine's touch, and every sensation was so overwhelmingly potent to Blaine. He couldn't help releasing a deep moan of his own into the kiss as he felt Kurt growing harder and harder in his hand. But before Kurt could lose himself completely, Blaine extracted his hand and started to work the button at the front of Kurt's pants. It took some effort, considering he couldn't see what he was doing, but eventually he'd managed to do away with the entire bottom half of Kurt's clothing.

Just the _knowledge _that Kurt was now naked was almost enough to set Blaine over the edge. He let his hands travel shamelessly down Kurt's body, marveling at the fact that he could feel nothing but soft, smooth skin stretched over taut muscles. Kurt was extremely sensitive under Blaine's touch and he trembled for a moment before regaining control of himself and starting to get the last of Blaine's clothes out of the way.

Neither of them could understand how anything could feel so good, but they wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Every single inch of Blaine's naked body was pressed against every single inch of Kurt's and the friction they created together was beautifully arousing. Kurt had started whimpering as Blaine's lips traveled blindly down his neck. Everything felt so powerful; he just only wished he could _see_…

"Kurt," Blaine whispered against the other boy's skin. He was finally going to allow himself to actually verbalize the words he'd been feeling for so long but had yet to say out loud. In this moment, though, nothing seemed more perfect. "I—"

"No," Kurt said, abruptly cutting him off. "I know exactly what you're going to say and I don't want you to say it."

Blaine was a bit taken aback, but he tried not to let it show in his voice. "I-I'm sorry."

He felt horrible about the fact that he may have made Kurt uncomfortable by wanting to voice his deepest feelings like this, but the next words out of Kurt's mouth shook him to the core.

"I don't want you to say those words like this," Kurt said slowly. His hands were embarrassingly sweaty; suggesting this was making him beyond nervous. "I want you to say them while you look into my eyes."

He literally felt Blaine tremble in his arms. "Oh, Kurt…"

"Shhh," Kurt whispered soothingly as he pulled Blaine up so he could kiss him. "Just wait."

Their lips came together and Kurt lifted his head up so that Blaine's fingers could reach the knot of the blindfold at the back of his head. At the same time, his own hands traveled up behind Blaine's head so he could loosen the knot there with trembling fingers. It was the last action he would ever take as a blind man.

The knot at the back of his own head was becoming looser as Blaine worked at it. Suddenly there was a fringe of something bright and unfamiliar – light? – along the edges of his sight as the fabric over his eyes became slack. Somehow he and Blaine had been working in sync – Kurt had just managed to get Blaine's blindfold completely untied when suddenly the darkness fell away.

He had to blink a few times to get adjusted to the brightness, but when he could finally focus his brand-new vision, he found himself looking at the most beautiful human being he ever could have imagined.

Blaine was looking right back at him. Kurt had no idea what color his eyes were, but something in his affectionate gaze was inexplicably warm and comforting to Kurt. He was wearing the same exact smile Kurt had felt so many times curved against his lips as they kissed, but _seeing _it was something else entirely. Very carefully, Kurt raised one hand and placed it gently on the side of Blaine's face, curling his fingers around the other boy's strong jawline. He looked at his own skin for the first time and noticed that Blaine's was a slightly different tone, but the shades looked like perfect artwork against one another.

"I love you, Kurt," Blaine whispered.

Kurt had almost been too distracted by the fascinating way Blaine's lips moved when he spoke to really hear, but when he realized what Blaine had said, he couldn't help letting a huge smile of his own grow across his face. He repeated the sentiment back to Blaine – they were words he'd been feeling and wanting to say for a very long time, but for some reason, it hadn't seemed _right _up until this moment.

"I love you, Blaine." He giggled and snatched the blindfold that had covered his own eyes out of Blaine's hand, tossing it unceremoniously to the floor along with Blaine's blindfold. "Why are we still holding onto these stupid things, anyway?"

Blaine barely even noticed what Kurt was doing because he was too awestruck by Kurt himself to really pay much attention to anything else. There was something fascinating about the look in Kurt's magnificently hypnotic eyes and the way it complemented his playful smile. Those lips that Blaine had kissed so many times were plush and full and pink (Blaine only knew this because he'd heard that people's lips were usually some sort of pinkish color) and looked just as soft as they felt. His hair looked out of place, probably disheveled from the heat and passion of what they'd been doing just previously, but Blaine found that he loved how it looked. He loved how _Kurt _looked. Kurt was a thousand times more beautiful than he'd ever dreamed.

"This is so surreal," he said softly, letting one hand run down Kurt's chest, unabashedly checking the rest of Kurt out as he did so. "You're _so _perfect."

"Speak for yourself," Kurt whispered. He caught Blaine's hand as it moved back up his chest and brought it to his lips, pressing a tender kiss to Blaine's fingertips. "You are perfect and amazing and beautiful, inside and out."

They moved together into a proper kiss, both letting their eyes fall closed because it felt natural, but suddenly they both seemed to have the idea that it seemed wrong to be closing their eyes when they'd been without sight for so long. Almost immediately, both of them opened their eyes again without breaking the kiss, but they collapsed into giggles when they realized what they'd done.

"I want to kiss you, but it feels weird to close my eyes," Blaine admitted. "I guess it just feels like what you're naturally supposed to do, but I want to _see_."

"Tell me about it," Kurt agreed, laughing a little bit.

Blaine kissed his forehead. "I just can't get over how much I love you, and how beautiful you are," he said softly. "I couldn't have asked for this moment to be more perfect than it is."

"Perfect," Kurt repeated with a smile. "Just like you."

They kissed again, just doing what felt right and eventually letting it turn into something more. Hands wandered freely and their bodies moved together in a way that was brand new to both of them and completely wonderful at the same time. The light outside Kurt's bedroom window began to fade as the sun went down and day eroded into night, but neither boy noticed; hours flew by as they kissed and touched and eventually began to make love in every single way they knew. Even when they both grew tired, they were perfectly content to stay wrapped around each other, sharing languid kisses and whispering sweet nothings as they came down from their mutual high.

After what seemed like a perfect eternity, they fell asleep in each other's arms, huge smiles on both of their faces. They'd both been through hell and back to get to this point, but all of that had been so, _so _worth it now that they were together. Even as they slept through the night, they dreamt of nothing but each other.

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><p>And, just because it's relevant to this chapter, here's the gorgeous picture that inspired this whole fic (by leeminkyo on Tumblr): bit . ly  L6L6UD (no spaces).

See you next time for the epilogue and my big long tearful thank-you author's note that is sure to accompany it!


	8. Epilogue

I'm really sorry for updating late. I got kind of busy with work and college orientation and meeting Chris Colfer and I kind of forgot that, hey, I also have three stories I need to work on. So um…this is the epilogue, and I awkwardly have nothing else to say here, so enjoy! :D

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><p>Epilogue<p>

The Hudson-Hummels were just sitting down to breakfast, as they did every morning, because it was pretty much the only window of time all day that they'd get to be together as a family. It was a routine they all cherished, but something about this particular morning was strange. There was a very obvious presence missing, and Finn, Carole and Burt all felt it.

Finn was the first to broach the subject. He awkwardly cleared his throat. "So, um, have either of you seen Kurt? He's usually the first one down here. He never sleeps in."

Burt and Carole exchanged a knowing look. Both of them were well aware of the fact that Kurt had brought Blaine home with him last night, and neither could recall if Blaine had left. There was only one possible explanation for Kurt's absence.

"I haven't seen him since he went upstairs with Blaine last night," Burt acknowledged, and Finn immediately choked on the sip of orange juice he'd just attempted to swallow.

After coughing uncontrollably for a few seconds, Finn squinted at Burt in confusion for a second before he finally put two and two together. "Oh my god, yeah. Blaine came home with him last night…I totally forgot about that."

"I didn't know he was planning on spending the night," Burt mumbled under his breath.

Carole gently placed her hand over Burt's in order to placate him. "They _are _each other's soul mates, you know. Anything could have happened between them last night."

Burt sighed. "I know, and I'm happy for Kurt that he's finally found the one for him, but it's just so hard to believe he's growing up, y'know? He's always been my little boy, and he's been through so much lately…I haven't really had time to take it all in."

The second he finished speaking, a brief silence hung in the air as Carole and Finn thought about what he'd just said. But before either of them could say a word in response, they caught the sound of two muffled voices drifting into the kitchen from the stairs.

"Oh, wow. Okay. Here are the stairs. Isn't it weird that I thought I knew my way around my house, but now that I can actually _see _where I'm going, I have to stop and think about what everything is?"

"Not at all. You have a nice house…I wonder what the inside of mine looks like."

Carole caught Burt's eye and the two exchanged another look. They knew.

The boys' chatter continued for a few more seconds, and all of a sudden, there they were. Kurt and Blaine stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hands intertwined, their faces graced with smiles but not blindfolds.

Burt stared into his son's eyes for the first time since the day he was born. He remembered looking into Kurt's newborn eyes as he reveled in the beautiful glory of fatherhood, only to have his heart sink as he watched a red blindfold being tied around his son's fragile infant head. The magical blindfold had grown with Kurt over the years, as was the case with everyone, and over time Burt had finally accepted the fact that his son wouldn't be blind forever – hell, Burt himself had been blind for a number of years before he'd met Kurt's mother. But in that moment, as he stared at Kurt standing in the threshold of the kitchen hand-in-hand with the love of his life, he was overwhelmed with an emotion so powerful he couldn't put a name to it. It was a mixture of paternal pride and love and so, so many other things all mixed into one. Burt never wanted the feeling to end.

Kurt's eyes were a mesmerizing mixture of blue and green and turquoise and gold and gray. Burt had had his sight for about two decades now – he and Elizabeth had unblinded each other a few years before Kurt was born – and in all those years, he had never seen a color that quite matched the shade of Kurt's eyes. Not only was their color indescribably beautiful, but they were filled with pure love and bliss. Kurt's entire face was absolutely glowing and Burt knew full well that his son was really, truly, _finally _happy.

And Blaine looked unbelievably happy as well. Unlike Kurt, he wasn't looking at Burt, Carole and Finn seated at the table – he was looking right at Kurt with tears shining in his eyes, like he couldn't and didn't want to see anything else in the world. Seeing Blaine looking at Kurt like that brought a whole new wave of emotion over Burt. Nobody deserved that love and adoration more than his son.

"We did it," Kurt whispered. His voice was so soft and choked with emotion that it was practically inaudible. He turned to look at Blaine, and his smile brightened even more, if that were possible. "He _is _the true love of my life."

Blaine let go of Kurt's hand only to curl his arm around his waist and pull him closer. He pressed a lingering kiss to the side of Kurt's face before turning to acknowledge a very pleasantly dumbstruck Burt, Carole and Finn.

"Come on, say something," he teased jokingly. "Aren't you guys going to congratulate us?"

That was all the motivation that the three seated at the table needed. Burt was the first one on his feet; he immediately crossed the room over to where Kurt and Blaine were standing and was immediately enveloped by the two into a hug. Carole and Finn soon followed suit, and before any of them knew what was happening the five of them were tangled in a group hug right in the middle of the kitchen, holding each other close and feeling the love radiate. For the first time, every single one of them felt like they'd finally found their true family.

And that was funny, Blaine thought, because these people actually accepted him more than his real family did.

xxx

Later that morning, Finn drove Blaine back home, since Blaine had only had his sight for a few hours and obviously hadn't been able to learn how to drive just yet. As was expected, Kurt accompanied the two and sat beside Blaine in the backseat, staring out the window and just marveling at the world that he could finally _see_. For the first time in his eighteen years, he was seeing trees and houses and strangers walking their dogs along the sidewalk. Such simple things, but everything was so new and beautiful to him.

But he could never manage to keep looking out the window for more than a few seconds at a time, because his attention was always somehow diverted back to Blaine. And whenever that happened, Blaine was always looking right back at him, a tiny smile waiting on his lips. As long as Kurt was here with him, Blaine thought, it didn't even matter that he was probably going to be in so much trouble when he got back to his house because he had never returned home after school the previous evening. Now that he had his sight and his Kurt, it seemed that nothing could bring him down ever again.

For some reason, the car ride from Kurt's house to Blaine's house seemed shorter than it had when they'd been unable to see. Before either of them knew it, Finn was pulling into the driveway of a nondescript suburban duplex and announcing that Blaine was home.

Blaine turned to Kurt with a small smile tugging up the corner of his mouth. "Come in with me?"

Kurt responded by pulling two red silk strips of fabric – the blindfolds that had left both of them sightless for eighteen years – out of his pocket and handing one to Blaine. They weren't sure why they'd ended up bringing the dreaded pieces of fabric with them, but now that Blaine thought about it, he thought it might help to create a nice effect when they confronted his parents. He clutched his blindfold in his sweaty palm as he followed Kurt out of the car and they made their way up the steps.

Once they were standing in front of the door, Kurt turned to Blaine with one eyebrow raised in concern. "You good?"

Blaine practically swallowed his own Adam's apple even as he nodded and said, "I'm good."

"Blaine." Kurt took his hand, not even bothering to fully intertwine their fingers, instead opting to just hold three of Blaine's fingers. He smiled sweetly, keeping his voice perfectly even and calm. "You have nothing to worry about, okay? They're going to see how much I love you and how much you love me, and they'll have no choice but to accept the fact that this is _real_. There's no defect in our magic."

Blaine stared at him in dumbstruck awe for a second. Here was this boy – this beautiful, beautiful boy – who had been through _so _much pain, both physically and emotionally, telling him that everything was going to be all right. Kurt's confidence was nothing but admirable and infectious, and Blaine found his every inhibition melting away as he looked at the reassuring smile on Kurt's face.

"I love you so much," Blaine whispered, leaning in to kiss him softly on the lips, not even caring that Finn was still parked in the driveway and could see everything they were doing.

Kurt broke the kiss with a huge smile on his face. "I love you too. Now let's do this."

Blaine opened the front door and let himself in, feeling much more confident after everything Kurt had said. Kurt followed behind and remained quiet, not wanting to draw attention to himself just yet.

There was the muffled sound of a hair dryer blowing in the bathroom upstairs. Blaine led Kurt over to the couch and sat down with a sigh.

"Sounds like my parents are still getting dressed and ready," he acknowledged. "I don't want to bother them."

"That's okay." Kurt's voice was soothing and did wonders to calm Blaine down. "We can wait."

They waited in silence, neither of them wanting to say a word and risk Blaine's parents overhearing them. Kurt kept his hand in Blaine's, rubbing his fingers with the back of his thumb, silently reassuring the love of his life that everything was going to be just fine.

The sudden sound of footsteps on the stairs behind them suddenly made both boys flinch. Kurt gave Blaine's hand a gentle squeeze and the tiniest of smiles. Blaine tried his hardest to focus on remembering how to breathe, which was a bit difficult when Kurt was looking at him like that.

"Blaine? Is that you?"

The sound of his mother's voice shouldn't have surprised him, but it did. Blaine knew very well that she would have been able to see the back of his head from where she stood on the stairs – and the back of Kurt's head as well. If she'd been paying any attention at all, he thought, she would have noticed the fact that neither boy had a tight red knot tied behind his head anymore.

Blaine stood up slowly, bringing Kurt with him. They walked around the couch and turned to face a very stunned Mrs. Anderson on the stairs.

She clutched a hand over her heart. "What in the world…?"

Blaine smiled softly, lacing his fingers into the spaces between Kurt's.

"Mom," he whispered, his voice choked with emotion, "Kurt and I…we gave each other sight last night."

Blaine's mother shook her head in disbelief. "No. This couldn't have happened. You…he…"

Kurt could see that she was at a loss for words, so he exchanged a glance with Blaine and both boys immediately produced their blindfolds to show her. Blaine could have sworn his mother stopped breathing when she caught sight of the red pieces of fabric in each of their hands.

"I love your son," Kurt said softly, looking Mrs. Anderson straight in the eye and still managing a smile. "And he loves me, too. I'm so proud to say that he was the very first person I ever laid eyes on, because he is so beautiful. And I wish you could _see _how beautiful he is, instead of telling him that the way he loves is wrong and unnatural."

Once again, Blaine had been rendered completely speechless by this amazing, brave boy. Blaine never would have had the courage to say anything like that to his own parents, and now _Kurt _was speaking his mind and declaring his love so openly without a care in the world. Blaine could have kissed him again right then and there. He was so overwhelmed with love for Kurt that he didn't even notice his father descending the stairs and stepping up beside his mother, until the elder Anderson spoke.

"What's this? What's going on here? Did they…?"

Mrs. Anderson could only nod slowly as Kurt and Blaine shared a victorious glance. She actually believed them.

"B-but I don't understand," Mr. Anderson stammered, obviously dumbstruck that anything like this could have possibly happened. "You…both of you are boys."

Blaine raised one eyebrow. "And?"

He had the distinct pleasure of watching his father's face turn bright red as the realization finally hit him and he was proven wrong.

"Blaine…Kurt…I'm so sorry." Mrs. Anderson's voice was so quiet that it was practically inaudible. "I'm sorry we had to see it to believe it."

"And I'm sorry for never coming home last night," Blaine responded. He was only half joking.

"Well, normally we'd be upset…," his father began.

"We _were _upset," Mrs. Anderson chimed in, cutting her husband off.

He stared blankly at her for a second before continuing. "We _were _upset, but obviously something really special happened last night. As your father, Blaine, it's hard not to be happy for you right now."

Kurt shot Blaine a devious little smirk. "I don't want to say 'I told you so,' but…"

"But what?" Blaine's mother asked. This was the most attention she'd paid to the boys' relationship since they'd met.

"Oh, he was just all nervous about coming home today," Kurt told her. He swung his and Blaine's intertwined hands lazily back and forth between them. "It was kind of adorable, actually. But I knew he'd have nothing to worry about."

Mrs. Anderson shook her head and smiled. "You two actually love each other. I think _we _were the blind ones for not having realized that sooner."

Kurt never would have admitted it to her in a million years, because he didn't want to show disrespect to Blaine's parents, especially now that they'd expressed their acceptance. But deep down, he knew that she was right.

xxx

Kurt ended up staying with Blaine for the remainder of the day. After having lunch with the Andersons, the two ventured out alone to walk around town and take their very first look at all the things and places they'd come to know. They saw the high school, the coffee shop (where they stopped to enjoy their very first cup of coffee that they could actually _see_), and the blind community center which had hosted the talent show where they'd met for the first time. Kurt remembered practically none of it. When he looked back on that day years later, his very first full day as a sighted human being, he could never seem to recall anything that was not Blaine. He remembered Blaine's musical laugh ringing through the white noise of the coffee shop after Kurt had made some funny remark. He remembered the way the sunlight caught Blaine's smile just perfectly. The way Blaine's fingers fit perfectly into the spaces between Kurt's own as they walked. Blaine, Blaine, _Blaine _was all he could seem to remember, and he didn't even mind.

They ended up taking a stroll in a quiet little park that evening, hands interlaced, neither of them saying a word as they appreciated the beauty around them and their togetherness. When the sun began to dip lower and lower into the sky, they made their way over to a grassy hill and sat on the side of it to enjoy watching the sunset together for the very first time.

Kurt rested his head on Blaine's shoulder and snuggled close to him. "You make me happy, y'know that?"

His voice sounded sleepily adorable; Blaine knew he had to be exhausted from the long but enjoyable day they'd spent together. He couldn't resist curling an arm around Kurt's waist to pull him closer.

"That's funny," he observed. "You happen to make _me _quite happy as well."

He turned his head to the side and dropped a lingering kiss to Kurt's forehead. Kurt melted even closer against him and sighed.

"It's just that I never thought I'd _be _this happy," he murmured. "I mean, not too long ago I was slicing a razor across my arms almost every night."

Without even thinking, he raised one arm up in front of his face and took his very first look at the scars that crisscrossed the inside of his forearm. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would look. It had been a while since he'd last cut, and the scars were already starting to fade.

He knew they wouldn't be gone for a very long time – if they even healed completely at all. Maybe the ghosts of his scars would always be there on his arms to remind him of everything he'd overcome and how strong he now was.

Still, he couldn't help asking a question that had suddenly wormed its way into his mind.

"Would you think I was even more beautiful if I didn't have these scars?" he asked, unable to look Blaine in the eye, instead choosing to study the inside of his arm some more.

Blaine didn't say anything for a few seconds. He simply reached out and touched the inside of Kurt's arm, tracing over his scars with the lightest touch of his fingertips.

"No," he finally whispered. "I wouldn't change a thing about the way you look. I hate that you felt you had to do this to yourself, but your scars are a part of you now, Kurt, and they show how perfectly imperfect you are."

He wrapped his hand around Kurt's wrist, raising the other boy's scarred arm up a few inches, and pressed his lips gently against the ruined skin.

"I love you for all that you are. Every part of you, Kurt. You are _so _beautiful."

Kurt blinked and noticed immediately that his eyes felt wet. He let a single tear fall down his cheek as he turned to smile at Blaine, who was looking at him as if he never wanted to see anything else.

Blaine kissed Kurt's single tear away and kept kissing down his jawline, under his chin, onto his neck. He wanted to lavish every single part of Kurt with kisses so he knew just how loved and adored he was.

Kurt, though, had other ideas, and Blaine soon discovered that he didn't mind so much as Kurt dipped his head and captured his lips in a proper kiss. Neither of them needed any more words as they expressed their love through the movement of their lips. Kurt was vaguely aware of more tears slipping out of his eyes and he could feel Blaine's tears on his face, too – why was _Blaine _crying? Could he have been just as awestruck by the sheer perfection of this moment as Kurt had been?

When they finally broke away and smiled at each other as they gasped for air, the sky was practically dark. Kurt giggled, ducking his head to hide his blush when he realized how long they must have been kissing.

"We missed the sun setting." He absently pulled a few blades of grass out of the ground and watched them trickle through his fingers.

Blaine shrugged. "There will be plenty of sunsets. We'll watch it some other night."

Kurt gave him a coquettish little pout. "Are you implying that there won't be plenty more kisses?"

"I never said that!" Blaine laughed, pulling Kurt closer and lying down in the grass. Kurt snuggled against Blaine's chest, resting his head right over the other boy's heart. "As if I could _ever _deny you kisses."

Kurt allowed himself his first look up at the nighttime sky. He was immediately amazed by the vast blanket of stars that seemed to extend forever, as far as he could see.

"Plenty more kisses, then," he murmured happily. "And plenty more sunsets. We aren't blind anymore, you know. Last night proved that we were made for each other. We've got forever for kisses and sunsets."

Blaine kissed the top of his head. "I couldn't think of anything more perfect."

Kurt stared up at the stars for a second longer before glancing back at his very own forever, in whose arms he lay. He picked his head up off of Blaine's chest and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips that lasted only a fleeting second before he broke away with a smile.

"I can't, either."

-end-

* * *

><p>I had the most amazing time writing this story and sharing it all with you. Reading your wonderful feedback never failed to make me smile and I can't thank you all enough for giving this humble little story a chance. I wish I could give you all a hug, but I can't, soooo…I hope my undying love and gratitude will suffice. :D Thank you all so much again.<p>

Aaaaand…that's all I can think of to say, so I'm gonna go read TLOS now. Bye! :)


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